Second Chances
by Joy-girl
Summary: It's later, much later in time, and Ash and Misty are sent on their first mission, who sent them and why? More importantly, when? What memories will this mission bring up? -AAML-
1. Life and death

Second Chances 

**~ Part one; Life and Death ~**

Misty was skeptical at first to say the least. Since when did they let them go on a mission? It's not like they were the best suited for the job. In fact, they were probably on the lower scale. But non-the-less, they were chosen for this mission. Ash on the other hand was thrilled to be given such a task.

   "Just think Misty! We get to go on a real mission! Our first one! Maybe this means we'll be called more often!"

   Misty had to smile at Ash's enthusiasm. She didn't want to douse his spirits, so she kept her cynicism to herself.   

   Just before they were to leave to their mission, they were to meet Michael, THE Michael the arch angel at the golden brick house, also known as the mission house. Ash had almost skipped the whole way there, if it wasn't for his slight maturity and the little dignity he wanted to keep. He waited patiently for Misty to catch up with him, then run off to wait for her again, much like a little anxious child would do. 

   Finally, they reached their destination, both slowly walked into the sacred house. 

   "Welcome" There was a figure at the back of the room, he was sitting on a fancy chair with an amused smile placed on his lips. He slowly rose to his feet, grace and a great sense of honor was shown even in his footsteps. Ash and Misty followed in awe, but did their best to keep their jaws shut. 

   Michael finally stopped in front of a door and turned to look at them. "I assume you both know what you're here for?"

   Misty nodded. "We're here because we were called for a mission, sir."

   Michael nodded. "You two were chosen for this mission to protect and help these two individual people. 

   "Now, as it is usually, you will change into a human form, but closer to their age instead of when you died. Do you understand that much?" Both nodded. "Good, you will return when we say it is safe. Never, and I mean never, reveal your true forms unless you feel it absolutely necessary. Are there any questions?" Ash and Misty shook their heads. Michael smiled with satisfaction and nodded. He opened the door he had stopped at. Through the door was a bright golden path that led to the gates, the gates that were the barrier between Heaven and Earth, and even between Heaven and Hell. Neither Ash, nor Misty had even been this close to the gates, save when they first came to Heaven. 

    "Are you ready?" Michael asked, he held the door wide open, waiting for Ash and Misty to pass through. And pas through they did. With hands held tightly together, they both walked the long path towards the golden gate.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

   "Ash! Ash! WAKE UP!"

   "Waaa….." Ash slowly blinked open his eyes and impatiently waited for them to begin to focus. "Misty?" He looked around. "What happened?"

   Misty shrugged and sat back against a nearby tree while Ash to sat up from his laying position. "I don't know, we were walking through the gates when we passed out," she looked around. They were in a forest sitting right beside a path. Pokemon were playing and running all around, totally ignoring the new comers. "And from the looks of it, we're back on earth."

   Ash nodded and bent his head. "Yea… headaches are one thing I didn't miss…"

   Misty gave a slight smirk. "Did you notice anything else, Ash?"

  Ash looked up and scanned the area. What was he missing? The clueless look remained and Misty sighed. Ash still didn't change. Finally, she gave up and said, "Us Ash! Look at US!"

   Ash look down at his own clothing and his eyes widened. They looked like teens! He was wearing a black t-shirt and blue-jeans. A black hat was set backwards on his head and black sneakers. His eyes widened still as he looked over at Misty. She had tan cargo jeans on and a blue bellie tank-top. Her hair was down and reached to the middle of her back. She also had a little hair clippy in her hair preventing the hair from falling in her face. 

  "Yes, Ash, I guess the people we're supposed to help are teens too."

  Ash shook out of his daze and nodded. "But how do we know who they are?"

  Just then, they heard some voices coming from down the pathway coming their way. 

   "It's your fault!"

  "It is not!"

  "Is too!"

  "I didn't get us lost!"

  "oh, so then I guess Shadow here read it and was leading us in the wrong directon."

  Ash could see red and black hair appearing. 

  "Don't blame it on Shadow! It was his fault either!"

  "Ever heard of sarcasm, idiot?"

  Ash and Misty both looked at each other with an eyebrow raised. They could now see a long black haired girl with maroon streaks and seep red eyes, almost purple. The boy beside her had red hair, green eyes, and was freckled right on the bridge of his nose. The girl had a black shirt on with a heart on it and flare jeans to go with it. The boy just had on a red shirt with a pokemon on it and blue-jeans. Ash noted with interest, that a Mightyhena trailed behind the two. 

   "Yes I have! And I'm saying it wasn't either of our faults!"

  "Oh?" The girl stopped right in front of Ash and Misty to stare at the boy. "Then whose fault was it?"

  The boy stopped as well and looked around nervously until he spotted Ash and Misty staring at them. "Oh! Hey! Do you know where we are?"

  Ash shook his head but Misty stepped up and nodded.  "Pewter city is thataway one mile." She pointed down the hill where they came from. 

  The girl mumbled something under her breath. "I KNEW we should've taken that path to the right! But nooo, we had to take the one on the left!"

   The boy snorted. "ME?! If I remember correctly, you were the one who was saying, "Oh look! I can just sense civilization this way!"

   The girl nodded defently. "Right! And I was pointing to the right!"

  Misty took this time to intervine. "Would it be better if we took you there?"

  The girl smile gratefully and nodded. The boy just shrugged and Ash stared at Misty. How ere THEY supposed to help THEM? Not to mention the small fact of how Misty knew where they  were and how far it was to Pewter. 

   Misty smiled. "What's your names?"

   "Ruby" The girl smiled back. 

  "I'm Joey, the best pokemon master in the world!" Ruby rolled her eyes. "And this," He continued pointed to the pokemon beside him, "Is Shadow."

   Misty continued to smile. "I'm Misty, and the person behind me is Ash."

   Ruby and Joey both looked at each other then back and Ash. Ash started to chuckle nervously. "What?"

   Joey looked skeptical. "Are you one of those people who pose in the museum?"

   Ash cocked his head, totally confused now. "Wa?"

   Ruby continued. "You know, one of those guys who dress exactly like master Ketchum and tell about his story."

   Joey nodded. "Cuz you look exactly like him and even have the same name!" His eyes started to sparkle. "Are you a relative to him?!" Ash started to sweat-drop and looked to Misty for help. "Well see –"

   Ruby jumped in front of Misty, her eyes sparkling as well. "Best part is you look just like Misty! The water master! Also one of the few who came close to beating master Ash, not to mention his wife!" She sighed romanticly. "Ah, it was such a sweet love story! See – "

   Joey slapped his hand on her mouth and said, "I'm sure they've heard it, everyone has!"

   Misty blinked in surprise. "Everyone has?"

   Joey raised and eyebrow at them. "Of course! And their look a-likes should surely know." He shrugged. "Besdies, you can't be them, so you must be their grandchildren maybe. They've been dead for eighty-years."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ah, the sweet irony of it all… ANYHOO, dunno if that surprised you or not. Do hope it did. MORE TO COME!

~Smile Jesus loves ya!a


	2. Irony

Here is the second part! A lot faster than I thought… but hey! I'm sure your not complaining. 

Etherelemental: I know you want me to tell you what happened, but that part of the plot!… kinda.. anyway, it will be told eventually (In all honesty, I have an idea what's gonna happen, but not TOTALLY sure ^_~) Anyway, thanks for the ideas and for reviewing!

And thanks Cherryblooson gurl and amber myst for reviewing! (Although it would be nice for more) *cough*

Second Chances 

**~* Part 2; Irony *~**

**Ash and Misty both looked at each other in surprise. **Eighty years?! Okay, so they knew they'd been dead for… a while, but has it really been eighty-years?!

  Ruby and Joey were completely unaware of Ash and Misty's surprise as they continued to brag about their heroes. "Ash still is the best pokemon master! No one would have been able to beat him if he hadn't died! And no one can now!"

  Ruby shook her head and folded her arms. "I don't know, Misty may have been able to beat him."

  "Maaaybe, but probably not!"

  "Yes she would have! She almost did before!"

  "Almost!"

  While the two bickered, Ash and Misty's memories began to drift off to many, many years before. Maybe even just before the war…

(Flashback)

  _'Who'd have thought Ash Ketchum and Misty Waterflower would face off against each other in the final round? It's well known that the two 18-year-olds are engaged, we have to wonder how they feel about facing each other. This is promising to be one interesting match!_'

  It was true, Misty had made it to the final round and was ready to face the pokemon master. Not that she wanted to beat him of course, it's just she wanted to prove that she could do train pokemon other than water. 

  _'Unfortunately, Misty does have a disadvantage, most of her pokemon are water type, whereas Ash has his strongest pokemon, the famous Pikachu.'_

"Are you ready Misty?" Ash called from his place on the stands.

  "Ready to beat your butt, Ash Ketchum!"

 "Bring it on, Misty soon-to-be Ketchum!"

  Both Ash and Misty smirked to each other. The referee raised the red and green flags and thrust them downward. "Begin!" 

The poke'balls went flying. 

(End Flashback)

   Ruby looked over at Misty. "Are you going to lead us now?"

  Misty blinked out of her trance. "Oh, yes, to Pewter!" Misty reached down and held her hand out for Ash. Ash gratefully accepted. Misty pulled Ash up with a little effort and both turned to face Ruby and Joey. So these were their 'missions'. Ah, the irony. This must've been why they were chosen to watch them. Payback for all the times the argued themselves. Ash and Misty both looked each other, smiled, and gave a small sigh before turned back to the other two. "Let's go!"

(Flashback)

'_Both Ash and Misty have only one pokemon left! Who'd have honestly thought Misty could've gotten this far? My predictions were correct! This is one interesting match! Now all it's down to is Togetic and Charizard. Now, neither is has a type advatange, but Charizard does have not only the level, but also the experience advantage. But, appearances can be deceiving!'_

"Togetic, start out with your attract."

   "Charizard, close your eyes and remember it's Togetic!" Charizard did as he was told, and completely ignored the hearts floating around it. "Good, now use your ember attack!"

   "Barrier!" A barrier formed right in front of Togetic blocking the oncoming fire attack.

  "Use your headbutt!" Togetic lowered its head and went flying at Charizard with inhuman speed, knocking Charizard right in the stomach. Charizard's eyes widened on impact and it took it a moment to catch it's breath.

  Misty was pleased, but not surprised. "Excellent job, Togetic! Show them what you can do!"

  "Don't let it beat you, Charizard, use your seismic toss!"

  Charizard shook its head and flew over to Togetic before it could react. Charizard grabbed little Togetic in it's claws and flew up into the sky. Before long, Charizard returned flying down at full speed. It held Togetic in one claw and held it back like it was throwing a baseball, and Charizard threw it like it did, too. He flung Togetic to the ground, and Togetic landed, HARD. 

  "TOGETIC!"

  _'This must be it, folks, Togetic sure put up a good fight, but such a small thing couldn't possibly rise up after such an attack!'_

But, as thought o contradict those words, Togetic, slowly picked itself off the ground, tired and worn out, but still fully ready to fight. "Alright Togetic! Way to show 'em! Now, use your Metronome!"

  Both Ash and Charizard could only watch as Togetic's arms swayed back and forth and a dull blue glow began to form. Suddenly, the swaying stopped, but the glowing continued. "Be ready, Charizard!" Ash warned. Charizard nodded in understanding, but how can you prepare for a metronome? It could be a hydro pump, or it could even be something as harmless as a splash!

  It was time, Togetic's arms began to glow a brighter blue and a current of water shot out. '_What a lucky shot! Togetic just barely manages to hold on! The water gun appears to have greatly weakened Charizard, it appears as though each one can only stand one more attack. _

"Charizard, Flame thrower!"

  "Barrier, Togetic!" The barrier formed. Little Togetic focused all energy into the small barrier to block the oncoming heat. But it soon became to much, and the barrier broke down.  When all was flamed out of Charizard's mouth, it sat back to breath in some fresh air and to wait. No pokemon could have survived that in the shape Togetic was in. Togetic had to be done for!

  Misty looked down as soon as it was clear. Her eyes softened. Togetic was crispy and out. She nodded to the ref and jumped down from her place in the arena to pick up Togetic. 

  _'Ash Ketchum is still the reigning champ! But this may be the best and closest match we will see for a while. IS not one able to beat he unstoppable Ash Ketchum?' _

(End Flashback.)

"Just out of curiosity," Ash whispered in Misty's ear. They both walked ten paces ahead of the bickering couple behind them. "How did you know where pewter was, let alone where we were?"

  Misty smiled over in Ash's direction. "There was a road sign right behind you."

  "O-o-o-oh." Ash nodded with understanding, of course, now he felt kind of dumb, but knowing him, he'd probably have pointed the other way even after seeing the sign. 

  "I wish we could visit Brock." Ash said. 

  Misty nodded. "I agree, but the best we can do is visit his grave."

  Ash perked up. "Hey! He may still be alive!" 

  Misty snorted. "I HIGHLY doubt it Ash. He would be over 100!"

  Ash sighed. "I could dream ,can't I?"

  Misty smiled and shook her head. "Not on earth. I think Heaven spoiled you too much."

  "Hey!" Both heads turned to see Ruby shouting at them. "Is this the turn coming up?" Misty nodded. Ruby frowned as Joey nudged her. "See! I told ya! Pay up!" 

  Ruby grumbled something under her breath and begrudgingly handed him a five dollar bill. "Don't' see why I have to give it to you, I pay for your food anyway…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was late afternoon by the time they reached Pewter. Ruby and Joey headed straight for the pokemon center. "Hey," Misty stopped them. "Do you mind if we see you tomorrow?"

  Ruby shrugged. Joey put his arms behind his head and said, "If you want to. It would be kind of fun to have Ash and Misty's look-a-likes traveling with us, don't' you think, Ruby?"

  Ruby shrugged again, too tired to really care. Joey sighed and took her hand to lead her to the pokemon canter before she collapsed on the street or something. He stopped at the crossroad to turn and wave at them before turning right.

  Ash and Misty both smiled and waved back. Then, they headed left to a very familiar street. 

Otay, this part is done! Lot's of flashbacks ahead as what happened is slowly revealed. Mwhaaa! *cough* Sorry. Enjoy and review!!!!!!

~Smile Jesus loves you!   


	3. It's not the Ring!

Tons of flashbacks! Just warning you, this just happens to be more flashback then story, but that's okay. Flashback IS half the story. There will be more 'story' eventually. Just a few more flashback chapters then we begin more with the plot. Kay? Kay. Enjoy!

Thanks EVERYONE who reviewed!! *huggles*

Ethermental: Thanks for giving me some tips, I'm going to add the new pokemon in the next chapter, I would've added it in this one, but it was written before your review, but thanks!

And thanks everyone else for your reviews! ^_^ 

****_Flashbacks aren't in italics, got it? Good Sorry, just think it looks better and less confusing than just a simple (Flashback) thing. Yea… Enjoy! _*****

Second Chances

~* Part 3; It's not the ring. *~

   "Ash, look!" Misty screeched out happily as she pointed to something on a tree. Ash whirled around to look at what she was so extatic about. 

   "…It's…a tree…" 

  Misty growled and shoved his head closer. "See that dent? I made that dent with your head!" 

_"Ash, honey! Can I see you for a sec.?"_

_  Ash smiled happily as he waltzed into the living room of his best friend's home. Brock, Misty and himself had taken a pit stop on the way to visit Misty's sister's about their wedding. He was in a great mood at the moment, but who knows how long that will last…_

_  "Yes?" Ash smiled at misty, not realizing his danger. He saw both Misty and Brock in the living room. Misty was sitting on the couch, giving him a slight smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Brock was leaning against the mantle with arms folded across his chest and his head down, but annoyance plainly written all over._

_  "Ash, guess who stopped by today."_

_  Ash cocked his head. "I don't know, who?"_

_  "Jenny."_

_  "Officer jenny?" Ash was even more clueless. _

_  "She said you have something stolen." Her smile was now gone and replaced by thin lines of annoyance. She bit her lip to keep from lashing out. _

_  Ash's eyes widened and he violently shook his head. "No!" He held his arms out in self-defense as he slowly headed over to his angered fiancée. "I wouldn't, you Know I wouldn't! Right Brock?" He looked at Brock for some back up. Brock stubbornly turned his head and bit his lip. Ash sighed in defeat and sat on the Lazy Boy across from Misty. "Okay, so what did I supposedly steal?"_

_  Misty's eyes flared. This was her limit. She stood up, marched over to him, and shoved her right hand her his face. "THIS!" It was plain in Ash's eye sight. Her ring. _

_  "But, but…" Ash stuttered. _

_  Brock sighed and moved from his leaning post. He gently pulled Misty back and set her back on the couch. He then moved in front of the distraught Ash and kneeled down. "Ash, who did you get the ring from?"_

_  A blush formed on his face. "Eh…" _

_  "Ash…" Misty's warning voice came form behind Brock._

_  Ash looked down. "From this guy who was selling rings on the street." Brock and Misty both gasped from surprise and anger. "It was really cheap!" He cried in self-defense. "I was low on money!"_

_  "Ash…" Misty moaned in her hands. "That guy stole the rings, you should have known better!"_

_  Brock was still upset. "Not only that, but whose tab did you say to put it on?"_

_  Ash was sheepish once again. "I thought it would be an early wedding present!"_

_  Brock took a deep breath and moved away before he pulled a Misty. Ash chuckled nervously and asked, "So why do you still have it, and I in trouble?"_

_  Misty answered, "The owner of this ring was apparently rather rich and said all she wants is for the thief to be punished. After I explained how STUPID you are to Jenny, she understood and let it go." She took a deep breath before continuing. "BUT DON'T THINK WE WON'T!"_

_  Ash winced. "I'm sorry!"_

_  Misty threw her hands up in the air and got up from the couch. "I'm going outside." She mumbled. _

_  Ash watched her go, not sure what to do. Once the door slammed shut, Ash's gaze feel on Brock's angry one. "Well…!" Brock hinted. _

_  "Well what?"_

_  "WELL GO TALK TO HER YOU IDIOT!"_

_Once again, Ash chuckled nervously and headed out the door into the wild outdoors. Misty didn't go to far, she was glaring hard at the tree mumbling things to herself. _

_  "Misty…" He started, he dropped his head in shame. "I'm sorry Misty. Do you want me to get a new one?"_

_  Misty's eyes flashed with anger and she whirled around. She grabbed Ash's head and gave a loud roar as she smashed it into the tree. After impact, Misty's eyes widened and she dropped his head. Ash crumpled to the ground holding his abused head. Misty sighed and knelt down beside her, frustrated tears in her eyes. "It's not the ring, Ash." She paused a moment before she continued. "Ever heard the saying, 'it's the thought that counts?" Ash nodded. "Well that's what's true in this case. You just wanted to buy me a ring without caring who it's from, as long as it was cheap."_

_  "But I wouldn't have had enough money for a even a slightly close nice one!"_

_  Misty sighed. "It doesn't matter! As long as you put a lot of love and thought into it, I don't care, as long as it's from you."_

_  Ash smiled lightly and hugged Misty. "I'm sorry, Misty." _

_  Misty wrapped her arms around him. "Me too, is your head okay?"_

_  Ash grinned and knocked his knuckles against his head. "Hard headed as you always said –ow."_

_  Misty laughed before kissing him lightly on the lips. "I love you, Ash Ketchum."_

_  Ash hugged her close and kissed her harder and longer on the lips. "I love you too, Mist."_

Ash both smiled and winced at the memory. "Yea… I remember. Do you still have the ring?"

  "Which one?"

  "Both."

  "I returned the stolen one, remember?"

  Ash smiled and nodded. "What about the other one?"

  "It's probably buried with me." She smiled at Ash and kissed him on the before continue on the road to the gym.

  _Ash Ketchum wasn't a very sneaky person, and Misty immediately knew something was up. "Ash?" She asked him one day. "Will you just spill it? You can not hide one thing!"_

_  Ash grinned and shrugged. He leaned over to kiss her on the nose before continue his wandering through the house. "You'll just have to be patient!"_

_  Misty growled and pulled his shirt causing him to fall back to her. "You're driving me nuts! Will you tell me already?"_

_  Ash's grin only grew wider as he shook his head. He gently pried her grip off his shirt before running up the stairs. Just before he reached the top, he called over his shoulder. "Check your favorite spot!" _

_  Misty wasn't happy. Why couldn't he just tell her?! She sighed and threw up her hands. "Alright, where's my favorite spot?" She thought a few minutes before running to a big red chair in the corner of the room with a lamp over head. It was right by the window and Misty could remember sitting there for hours just watching the ocean. She looked around impatiently until she found a small black box hidden in the crevice between the armrest and the cusion. _

_  Carefully she opened it and gasped. Inside was a plain, but beautiful in it's own right, sapphire ring. It was in the shape of a water droplet – the symbol for both water pokemon and her gym – attached to a gold band. Inside there was also a little note taped to the top of the box. She carefully unfolded it and began to read. _

_   Myst:_

_     Okay… thought that counts… how's this for thought? I saw it and immediately thought of you! Good thing that lady gave us some reward money, eh? Anyway I hope you like it. _

_   I also wanted to thank-you for putting up with me and my stupidity. I know I'm not always the smartest guy in the world, or maybe the slowest, but this slow guy loves you, and is grateful you love him back. I want you to know I'm going to try my hardest to be worthy of you. Hope this fix up ring will help that along there. I love you with all my heart!_

_Always and forever ~_

_   'Ashy-boy'_

~Smile Jesus loves you!


	4. Dedicated to Brock

****Flashbacks are now in italics okay? Cuz sometimes it can get confusing with just the (flashback) thing, so Flashbacks are now italics!****

Thanks EVERYONE for your reviews!!!!! 

Amber Myst: Yes, I know the 'head slamming into the tree' thing was kinda… aggressive for Misty, but I needed something for them to remember, and brain was kinda out of it at the moment, so, just think of Misty PMSing, okay?

Ethermental: Time zone thingy is still the eighty years past since they were alive, and they were on their way to Pewter in the Viridian forest. In this chapter they reached Pewter (probably took them a nice four hours to get two miles ^_~)

Second Chances 

**~* Part 4; Dedicated to Brock*~**

   Jenny wasn't a mean person, in fact, she was probably one of the sweetest people you'd ever meet! But right now, she was mumbling cruel things she fully intended on doing to her brother. 

  "Jenny!" Came the voice inside the building. "Don't forget to get every dirt spot!"

  Jenny ignored her brother but continued her task. He said he would give her seven dollars if she did his chore for him. She thought it was the usual, something like sweeping, besides, it's not like she had anything better to do. But no, it was to wash and scrub the all the floors of the building. Now, it wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't such a BIG floor. Right now, she was trying to wash the porch, which wasn't an easy task. People came in with dirty shoes. She'd have to remember to listen more when her mother says to wipe her feet.

  Jenny decided to take a break. She sat down on the round steps. It wasn't much of a porch really, it was just a semi circle around the door with about five steps leading to it. She rested her elbows on her knees and propped up her head. She watched the busy street life as it all seemed to pas her by more quickly than she'd like. Something caught her eye, more like, Someone.

  Jenny stood up and stared with an open mouth. A quick glance around told her she wasn't the only ones staring. Lot's of people had stopped what they were doing to star at the couple that passed them by.  Sure, she'd seen some people try and imitate them, but this looked like the real thing! It looked like the famous Ash and misty Ketchum! No wonder they were staring…

~*~*~*~   

   "…Hey…Misty?" 

   Misty glanced over at Ash. "Hm?"

   "Do you feel like everyone is staring at us?"

   "OH, Ash! Stop being so paranoid! The world doesn't revolve around you…"

~*~*~*~

   Jenny quickly reached behind her and into her pocket. She pulled it out and carefully opened up. A couple pictures floated down to the ground. She bent down to pick them up and she studied them carefully. She was right. They looked exactly alike, and they were coming this way.  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  Misty carefully stepped up to the staring girl. "Um, this IS the gym, right?"

  The girl nodded. 

  "And the slates run it?"

  The girl nodded again. Misty looked over at Ash, then back at the girl. "Do you speak?"

  She nodded, again, then shook her head and answered, "Yea, sorry, has anyone ever told you – "

  "Yes." Misty said before she could finish. She could tell this was going to be annoying. 

 "Do you want to battle my dad?"

  "Who's your dad?"

  "Elvis Slate."

  Ash walked leaned over to whisper to Misty, "Definetely Brock's kid." Misty gave a small smile before replying, "No, thanks, we were just new in town and we were seeing if we want to live here or not."

  The girl nodded with understanding. "I'll be glad to give you a tour, my name's Jenny Slate."

  Misty smiled gratefully, but shook her head. "We should be good by yourself," She looked at the mop, "And I thnk you have work to do, but thank-you."

  Jenny sighed heavily and nodded. She stepped aside to let the two through. Once they had left, Jenny continued mopping, grumbling about her brother…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  "Hey, wasn't this Brock's room?" Ash asked. He stuck his head in the door way. Misty quickly pulled him back. 

  "Ash!" She scolded. "Don't be so nosey! Someone may  sta-" Misty stopped in mid sentence and ran behind Ash, between the door. 

  Ash cocked his head. "What's wrong with you?"

  Misty said nothing, but cowered behind him. She let out a shaking finger to point to the object in front of Ash on the floor, before dropping it safely behind Ash once again. 

  Ash sighed and rolled his eyes. "It's a rock, Misty." True, it sure looked like a rock, but it was an odd shaped rock. Misty shook her head. "No! It's a bug!"

  "She's right, well, sort-of." Misty and Ash whirled around to see the face o the voce standing in the doorway. He was leaning on the doorpost, smirking at them. "Lady not like bugs? She has a good sense of what is and what isn't a bug." He held out his arm  and kneeled down. The 'rock' suddenly moved and a little head with antenna poked it's head out, followed by a small tail. (Looks like a snail with a rock on it's back.) "It's a warno, half rock, half bug, don't you know anything about pokemon?"

  Ash gave a sheepish grin and shrugged as best he could with Misty clinging on to him for dear life. "We used to live in the boonies." (Thanks Ethermental ^_~)

  Warno slowly slid over to the boy, leaving a trail of slim behind it. Misty's eyes followed it the whole time, making sure Ashw as between them the whole time. She finally regained her voice and pointed to the slim trailing behind the warno. "What's that?"

  "I wouldn't touch it, it's acid. That's warnos second defense, beside it's rock hard shell, warno can release an acid all around it's body, so no predator can touch it."

  Warno climbed onto the boys outstretched arm and sat climbed up to his shoulder before withdrawing into its shell. 

  "What about you?" Ash asked. 

  "I'm immune to it," He shrugged. "Guess I've been with it so long, I'm used to it."

  Misty saw that the thing was back in it's shell, so she let loose her grip and asked, "SO who're you?"

  The boy snorted. "Who am I? Shouldn't I be asking you the same question."

  "I'm – " Ash started before Misty interrupted. "I'm Ann Chove, and this in Tom Ato." 

  The boy looked at them oddly before shrugging. "Whatever, I'm Spencer Slate."

  Ash and Misty both smiled and nodded, there was a moment of silence, and Misty realized that he was waiting for an explation of exactly why there were here. "Um," Misty started, "We were thinking of moving to Pewter, so we decided to look around the gym. That's how we decide."

  Spencer shrugged. "Want me to show you around?"

  Ash shook his head. "No, we were just wondering a few things, like we heard about the old gym leaders, such as Brock slate,"

  Spencer eyed them carefully before nodding. "Yea, he's my grandfather, actually just died fifteen years ago. He was in his eightys."

  Ash looked down and nodded solemnly, while Misty continued for him. "Thanks, we're going to look around a bit more, thanks."

  Spencer nodded and waved before stepping back into his room, with Warno still on his shoulder, and closing the door behind him. As soon as the door was closed, Ash looked over at Misty. "'Ann Chove and Tom Ato?"

  Misty grinned sheepishly. "If we say are names are Ash and Misty, it would seem a little strange, you know?"

  Ash sighed and looked around. "Let's go visit him." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_  "Brock, are you sure this is a good idea?" Ash looked around nervously. It was the dead of night and Brock had lead Ash all the way out into the graveyard in Brock's hometown. _

_  Brock shook his head. "I never said it was a good idea, I said this is one way to freak Misty out."_

_ Ash sighed. "Remind me what we're doing again?" _

_  "It's Halloween, Misty always gets spooked around now. She's still awake, I know she is. She's going to come looking for us and we're going to jump from behind some of the graves, jump out, and freak her out with these sheets. Got it?"_

_  "How's she gonna find us?"_

_  "Don't worry about that," Brock said, "I let a trail of our things going this way, and I put some ketchup on them."_

_  Ash eyed Brock carefully. "What 'stuff?'"_

_  A sweat drop began to form on Brock's forehead. "Eh… some of your clothes…. And…" He turned away and mumbled something. Ash leaned closer to hear. "Your…hat"_

_  It was true, Ash hadn't worn his hat for fear Misty would recognize the shape, but he was beginning to regret that decision. "You put. Ketchup, on MY hat?"_

_  Brock nodded slowly, unsure of what Ash would do."_

_  Ash made a noise in the back of his throat then, without warning, reached over and smack Brock in the head. "I fully intend on sending Pikachu after you."_

_  Brock shrugged nervously. After he was sure Ash would do not more harm, for now at least, he handed him a blanket. "Put that on, and hide behind that tombstone." _

_  Ash nodded and did as hew as told. The tombstone was large enough to hide him if he scrunched down. He saw Brock move into a similar position just two feet behind him. _

_ They didn't have long to wait. Misty came in slowly, but surely. Her head was moving back and forth and she jumped at every little noise. "A-Ash?" Her eyes were wide with fear. "B-Brock?" She stopped for a minute, and Ash was almost sure she was going to bolt out of there. "Please guys? This isn't funny!" Ash could hear the fear just dripping from her voice. Another pang of guilt hit him. He glanced over at Brock to see if he felt the same. Brock remained in the same position as he had last seen him, face set in a determined stance.  _

_  Misty took a tentive step forward. She was getting closer to Ash now, and she could see her clutching his hat and Brock's vest close to her. She was gripping the brim of her hat so hard that her knuckles were turning white. All the fun out of the attack was swept away and Ash dropped down. Who knew, Ash had a guilt conciense. He looked over to Brock hoping to silently tell him the thing was off for him. He just didn't have the heart for it anymore. Brock had faultered, but still remained crouched and ready to pounce as soon as Misty came his way. Ash felt sorry for Misty, but his part was done. _

_  It was another five minutes before Misty finally was close enough to brock for him to jump up. He didn't intend on backing out of this one, not when he had worked so hard to make this plan. _

_  In a spilt second, he jumped of from behind the grave._

_  "Come join us!" _

- _Except that wasn't his voice…._

_ Misty had paled immensely, but not from Brock. Brock slowly turned around. There was an actual ghost behind him! It looked like it had a sheet over it's head, but it was completely see through. Brock screamed for all he was worth. But there was another sound, something he recognized, but sounded out of place… laughter?_

_  Ash was confused. Brock had jumped up, but he stopped in mid sentence. He didn't know what was happening. Brock had turned around and stared wide-eyed at something, then let out a blood curling scream. It was so bad, Ash and to cover his ears. But what was brock seeing? He looked over at Misty to see her… laughing?! Ash pulled the sheet off him and stood up. He walked over to Misty, who had now fallen down from laughing so hard. "What's wrong with you?"_

_  Misty waved her hand, a sign that said 'I'll tell you later when I can breath'._

_ Brock was still terrified, but he noticed the ghost waver before disappearing. He let out a sigh of relief and before turning wide eyed to face the laughing Misty. "Wha…?"_

_  Another laughing voice was heard as a young woman entered from behind a small shrine in the middle of the graveyard. Behind her came her Haunter, laughing more than usual. It all registered to Ash. That was a girl they had met in Pewter – or rather, Brock had found, and Misty befriended. A grin spread on Ash's face. Misty knew they were going to pull a trick on her, and got Lori and her Haunter to help! Ash had to laugh. Ash remembered back whe they were in Illusion forest and the haunters and Gangars all made them see illusion, and apparently, so did Misty.     _

_  Brock blinked a few times, doing his best to recover from the fright. It was then he noticed the girl, Lori, and forgot all that had happened. Night and black backround faded into hearts and bubbles. "That was a brilliant trick! Now will you give me a treat?"_

_  Misty heaved a sigh and pulled Brock's ear. "Thanks again, Lori!"_

_  Lori smiled and nodded. "No problem at all, me and Haunter certainly enjoyed it!"_

_  Haunter gave a happy nod and continued it's laughing. _

_ Misty grinned as well before handing Ash his hat. In one hand she held Brock's vest, it the other, Brock's ear. "Let's go, Alfred Hitchcock."_

_ Ash gave one final wave before disappearing with Misty and Brock out of the graveyard. _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  "Ash? ASH!" Ash blinked and looked over at Misty. "You coming?" They were standing at the gate of the graveyard. The very same one Ash and Brock had sat in, waiting patiently for Misty. 

  "yea…" He said. He took a reverent step past the gates and looked around. It looked a little different from before, expect there was a much larger amount of graves stretching as far as the eye can see. 

  "I think that one lady pointed us in that direction." Misty said, pulling Ash down the center path. "She said it was a big monument, can't miss it."

  Ash peered down the path. Ahead he could see a large pointed monument blocking the path. "I think I see it."

  Misty squinted her eyes. Yes, she could make it out now. "I see it." She pulled Ash's arm to move faster. In no time, they were in front of the large monument. It was a large block of stone with another stone on top of it that looked exactly like the boulder badge. On the stone bottom was written he words:

'Here lies a great gym leader and friend. He led Pewter out of darkness and into the happy town it is. He was a loving father, husband and friend. His memory will forever be remembered.'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_  "Hey guys! Guess what!"_

_  Misty peered into the vid phone to see Brock's happy face. "What's up, Brock?"_

_  Brock looked up. "There's a couple cracks up there…"_

_ Misty made a noise under her breath and moved up to the screen so that all you could see was her face. "Brock, shut-up and tell us why you called!"_

_  Brock shut-up and grinned. "I got a date!"_

_  Ash, who was behind them in the kitchen drinking some iced tea, at hearing those words, spit his drink out all over the floor. "W-Whaaaa?" He ignored the mess on the floor and ran over to the vid phone. He pushed Misty away and stared at Brock. "Are you serious?"_

_  Brock kept his grin on a nodded. "Yep! Remember Whilomena?"_

_  Misty pushes Ash halfway out of the way so both of them could look. "With the marril?"  
  Brock nodded. "Yea, her. She came to visit Pewter, and I ran into her on the way to the poke mart!"_

_ "That's awesome Brock!" Ash cheered. He was happy for his friend! After so many years of trying, he finally got a date._

_  Misty nodded and congratulated him before asking, "How's the gym and city going?"_

_  Brock thought a moment before answering, "It's going pretty well actually. I managed to talk to Officer Jenny, and she said she'd bust Team Rocket. We won't let them take over Pewter!" _

_  Ash smiled. "hat's great Brock!" The smile quickly turned upside down. "Your one of the few. Celadon, Lavender, Viridian, even Pallet have all fallen to team Rocket."_

_  Misty gave a solemn frown. "Cerulean is having troubles too."_

_  Ash grinned. "We won't let it stop us!"_

_  Brock grinned and nodded. "Right!" _

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

   Misty smiled sadly. "He was a good man."

   Ash nodded in a agreement. All the memories they had, all their moments, it all kept going through his brain. From the time they met, to the time they left. It was all running through his head. 

  "I wonder why we never saw him in Heaven," Misty suddenly put in. 

  Ash looked over at her. "Heaven is a big place, Misty maybe he's all the way on the other side. Besides, we'll just have to make a note to see him and all of our friends when we go up again."

  "HEY! ASH! MISTY!" Ash and Misty turned abruptly. There, running towards them, was Ruby and Joey. When they finally reached them, both Ruby and Joey were out of breath. "What'cha doing here?"

  Misty gave a small smile. "We were just looking around."

  Ruby shrugged. "Well, let's go. It's morning already."

  Ash and Misty looked up. They were right. Guess you don't sleep as an angel. Misty nodded to Ruby and Joey. "let's go." With one last look, Misty followed after the two. She gave Ash a knowing look and let him stay there a few more seconds.  

   Ash ran a hand through the lettering of Brock's grave, especially the 'friend'. "Bye, Brock." He said softly, his face brightened up. "See you in heaven" With that said, he raced of too catch up with Misty and the other two with one last look of memories. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sorry! Just wanted to make a thingy dedicated to Brock, kinda… he's really cool ^_^ This episode kinda sad? It's just the idea of if you ever die and come back to life, all your friends have died, and you think of all the times you had, and you can't have that again until you meet them in Heaven (If they go there, we're just going to assume all of Ash's friends go there ^_~)

New pokemon: Warno – the bug/Rock pokemon, it's pretty much like a snail, just with a rock hard 'home' thing. Get it? Yea… anyway. That the new pokemon for this chapter ^_~ (Thanks to Ehtermental for the idea!)

So that last memory might have been a little confusing. It's a glimce into the whole idea of this thing of why Ash and Misty came down to help Joey and Ruby. You'll see ^_~

One more thing, for those of you who don't know, Alfred Hitchcock is a famous scary movie person. Misty called Brock that, for the ame reason she calls him Romeo ^_~

~Smile Jesus loves you!


	5. New forest, new Rockets

Second Chances 

**~* Part 5 ~ new forest, new rockets *~**

And now for the plot!

   It was a silent walk. Ash was thinking of Brock and their old days while Misty was thinking of how much she DIDN'T miss the forest. No, they weren't in a forest, but, a forest was in sight and rapidly approaching. "So," Misty started, beginning to slow down, trying to delay walking through the bug-infested woods. "What's this forest called?" It was in truth, an honest question. She couldn't recall this forest ever being here. From the corner of her eye, she could see Ash's confusion as well. 

   "It's called rocket Forest." Ruby answered, shuddering. 

  "Rocket forest?  Like, Team Rocket?" 

  Joey nodded. "Yea, Eighty years ago, Ash, -" Ruby added 'and Misty' before Joey could continue. "…stopped Team Rocket, but three years ago, rocket sightings was seen in this forest, therefore named Rocket forest."

  "Most people don't like going though here," Ruby continued, "But it's the fastest way, and hopefully we won't run into any rockets."

  Joey grinned. "What's it matter? I got the best pokemon! I'll protect us!"

  Ruby rolled her eyes and looked at Ash and Misty. "Do either of you have pokemon?"

  Ash and Misty both looked at each other before shaking their heads. "No…" Ash said carefully. "I want to be one though, just haven't been good at catching them."

  Misty nodded. "I want to be a pokemon nurse, so I'll get a Chansey when I go to school."

  "I see, maybe you can catch a pokemon in this forest!" Joey said cheerfully. He stuck his hand through his pocket and pulled four, small blue and green round objects. "You can have some of my poke'balls. I stock up on them anyway." He handed two to Ash, and the other two to Misty. He winked. "Use the wisely."

   Ash studied the 'poke'balls' carefully. _'So the poke'ball changed too…' _He thought. He brought the tiny poke'ball up closer to his eye to examine it while Misty stood beside him and laughed silently. 

   They walked in silence for a few more minutes before Ash stopped and turned around to look at Misty. As they got closer to the forest, Misty was slowing down considerably. "Are you sure we should go this way?" She said nervously. "I mean, it's Rockets!"

  "And bugs." Ash added, grinning. He grabbed a hold of Misty's arm and pulled her towards the forest. "Let's go before Misty bolts." 

 ~

  "I wanna go home!" Rebecca whined. 

  "Just shut-up and deal with it!"

  "But – "

  "Just sit there and be quite! I hear something."

  Rebecca shut her mouth and leaned back on the tree. There were two other guys, one of which was her commander, the other was a partner. She sighed deeply. "We've been sitting here for over four hours," She said more quietly, but the annoyance hadn't left her voice. "Can't we go back to headquarters?"

  The boy next to her, no older than 30, sighed and shook his head. "No! YOU don't have to report to the boss anyway, I do. I'm not in the mood to hear him yell at me today."

  "Joel," Rebecca smirked. "How'd YOU become a commander? You don't even like the boss!"

  Joel lifted his head indignately. "I happen to be a very good rocket, just because I don't like the job, doesn't mean I'm not good at it."

  Tyler shifted. "Then why not be in the police department?" He was sitting beside Rebecca with his poke'ball in hand. He had brown hair and looked no older than 20.  

  Joel gave a small smirk. "Too good." He turned back to his position behind the bushes. "Now, hush, I hear people coming." Both Rebecca and Tyler leaned over to see what their commander saw. 

  "…them!"

  "You're too paranoid!"

  "Am not!"

  "Are too!"

  "Am not!"

  "Are too!"

  "Am not!"

  "SHUT-UP!" Came a new voice. A fiery red-head walked in front of the arguing pair and glared. "You WANT the rockets to hear us? If there are any here, they'll come from miles away because of you two!"

  The red-headed boy folded his arms and turned away from the black haired girl whom his was arguing with. "I'M not the one scared of rockets."

  "I'd be scared of them with you around!" She countered. 

  "That's our cue…" Joel whispered. 

  "You should be scared!" 

  All four heads shot to over to the nearby bushes where Joel had jumped up. Behind him, Rebecca and Tyler had jumped up as well.  "Here we come!" Joel started.

  "So get ready to fight!" 

  "Give us all your pokemon!"

  "And we'll end all your plight!"

  "Joel!"

  "Tyler!"

  "Rebecca!"

  "Team Rocket here to take pokemon for the boss!"

  "Because if we don't, it'll be our loss!"

  "That's right!"

  "It's Team rocket!" Ruby and Joey shouted together. Ash and Misty stood in the background with sweat-drops. "I thought Jessie and James were bad…" She whispered to Ash. Ash felt a smile crawl onto his lips as he nodded in agreement. 

  "Go, Pigeot!" Joel threw his poke'ball and out with a red beam came the magnificent bird known as pigeot.  Rebecca and Tyler got in a battle stance and threw out their own poke'ball. 

"Go Raticate!" A large rat pokemon bared it's large need at it's opponents, waiting impatiently for Tyler, it's master. 

"Go Ariados!" Out came a red spider pokemon. Misty let out a small screech and hid behind Ash. 

  Ruby eyed Misty before turning back to the battle, her hand on one of the poke'balls on her belt. She felt a hand on her shoulder before she could pick a poke'ball. Joey only turned to give her a small grin before turning back to the rockets. "I'll handle this one." Surprisingly, Ruby pulled her hand away from the belt at her waist and stepped back waiting for Joey to do his job. 

  Joey reached a hand down to his waist and pulled out a poke'ball and threw it as hard as he could. "GO PLATO!" A bright red beam came from the small poke'ball and disappeared as quickly as it had come. What was left was, well, a yellow and blue blob. The colors were mixed his with its jelly like body as it bobbed slowly up and down it it's position on the ground. 

  Joel grinned and ordered his pokemon to do a flying attack. The tips of Joey's lips curled up. "Fire!" The blue and yellow blob was suddenly replaced by a burning inferno that erupted to fast and close for the pigeot to turn back. The Pidgeot finally emerged from the fire and collapsed to the cool ground beside it. Joel growled and returned his pokemon. "Don't' just stand there, you idiots!" He yelped at his comrades to save his pride. "Do something! Attack together!" 

Rebecca and Tyler quickly nodded and moved in front of their leader. "Attack!"

Raticate ran headfirst into the flames as Ariados flung sticky string at the fire. Raticate disappeared as well as the string. Joey laughed. "Ha! You think that's' going to stop it?"  

   Rebecca growled and returned her pokemon when raticate appeared completely singed from head to toe. Once all pokemon were recalled, Joey allowed the fire to disperse and the yellow and blue blob returned. 

  Joel decided to take control and run of into the woods. "We'll be back!"

  "We'll  be waiting…" Joey called after the retreated rockets. "…NOT!" He turned to his three companions behind him. "Let's go before they come again."

  Ruby quickly agreed and continued walking right behind Joey. It took Ash a minute, but as soon as he returned from his surprise, he raced up to Joey. "What kind of pokemon was that?"

  Joey gave him an odd look. "Don't you know? He's a Plato. It's like a Ditto, the difference is that Ditto's change into their into elements like lightning, fire, and even plant. Can't believe you didn't know that." 

  Ash gave a nervous laugh  "… we were kind of…secluded…".

  Misty smiled slightly and turned her attention to Ruby. "Why are rocket sill in existence if w-Misty and Ash defeated them?"

  Ruby's red eyes looked back at her. "I really don't know." She looked forward again and unconsciously nodded. "I can tell, now can we PLEASE get out of here?"

  Misty nodded. As they resumed their walking, she asked, "So why is Team Rocket here?" 

Ruby unconsciously moved closer to Joey. "I guess they got a new leader or something. I'm hoping it doesn't get too bad, they haven't been much of a problem, and I know Misty and Ash beat them good if it took them eighty years to make a come back."

  "seventy-five." Joey correct.

  Ruby rolled her eyes. "Fine, seventy-five years."

  Silence filled the air. Ash and Misty were both thinking the same thing – was this why they were here?

  The silence was broken by a sudden thought entering Misty's brain. "Does anyone know where we're going?"

 ~

New Pokemon: Plato ~ A yellow and blue pokemon much like ditto, that controls elements instead of changing into a pokemon or object. No Plato has the same design.  

Ooookay… so I got lame at the end… maybe if you people would review and help me out a little ^_~ Anyway Review!

~ Smile Jesus loves you


	6. Behind Enemy lines

Greetings! Sorry it's taken so long, but here it is, and it's long (sorry, longER) than the other chapters, so hope you enjoy it, now on to some explanations and reviews!

    Ze Cookie: Well, I can't help you with some of the names, but Joel, Tyler and Rebecca are pretty much like Jessie and James, you know? So they aren't necessarily BAD, they're more there for comic relief and relating to Jessie and James ^_~ If you still have a problem, I might able to knock one of them off (not knock, just, they suddenly disappear)

    Spiraea Kozak: Okay, the age thing might get confusing, but they died when they were around 25, they got married at age 19 (proposed at age 18) and osme other things happened between then, but I'll tell you that at the end of the story, maybe I should just make a timeline… 

   The teen thing was so that they would fit in more with Ruby and Joey since they're also teens. Hey, it's God, he can do whatever he wishes to their age. Thanks for reviewing!

    Etherelelmental: Don't feel bad, hey, I've done it maaaany times, but its better late then never, right? Team rocket came back… just buy building it back up I guess. Someone took the initiative and had that wonderful 'Let's take over the world' idea and decided to pick up the legacy. Thanks for reviewin' ^_^

Second Chances 

**~* Part 6; Behind enemy lines *~**

  "You know, usually it doesn't take one two days to get to mount moon…" Misty mumbled under her breath as the large mountain slowly came into view. Ash shot her a sideways glance and smirked. 

  Joey looked back at her. "You didn't HAVE to come with us."

  Misty mumbled an inaudible "You have no idea…" She crossed her arms and said nothing more. 

  Ruby stopped suddenly and she looked around. Joey let out an exasperated sigh and looked at her. "What NOW?"

  Ruby slapped her hand on his mouth. She motioned her head to the right. Slowly she took her hand away and bent down low to the ground. She crawled slowly over to a nearby bush and motioned for the others to follow. 

  Joey growled something but followed without question. Misty gave Ash a worried look. Something about all this seemed very familiar…

~*~*~*~

_"Ash!" Misty whined. "Are we lost again?"_

_  "N-yes…"_

_  "ASH!"_

_  "Shut-up, it's not like you could do any better."_

_  "Wanna bet? Give me the dumb map!" Misty reached over and grabbed the map from Ash's hands. Ash huffed and walked over a few feet to the left to lean against a tree while Misty studied the map. "Ash I can't –"_

_  "Sh, and come here – quietly now! Just trust me."_

_  Misty shut her mouth and walked over to where Ash was. "What?"_

_  Ash put a gentle finger to her lips causing a slight blush to form on her cheeks, but she shook it off and looked it the direction of his eyes. In front of them, barely visible to the untrained eye, was a small cave. The entrance was covered by leaves and a small tree. It actually looked perfectly covered, were it not for the man they saw disappear into it. Misty glanced over at Ash and thought '_How off track ARE we?_' _

~*~*~*~

  "Let's go in!" 

  Ruby looked at Joey, horror plainly written all over her face. "Are you INSANE?!" Her voice quieted after a stern look from Joey. "This is a rocket place! We can't just walk into it without getting killed!"

  Joey grinned. "Nah, Team Rocket can't be THAT organized if it took them this long to come back. Are you coming or not?" His green eyes twinkled and looked at her pleading. Part of him told him this was wrong, why put her in danger? But the other side knew that they'd been this far together, why not the rest of the way? Ruby looked into his pleading eyes and felt her resolve crumble. She nodded slowly. Joey smiled. He slowly and quietly pushed aside the bush and stepped through. Ruby bit her lip and reluctantly followed. Turning, she looked at the stunned Ash and Misty. "You guys coming?" 

   Ash was the first to respond. He gave a firm nod and step through the bush and pulled Misty along with him into what could be their impending doom. 

~*~*~*~

  _"Come on, Misty, this way." Ash pulled her hand. He looked back only once to make sure Pikachu was following then resumed his lookout. "We have to be quiet, sound travels in a cave like this." He whispered in her ear. Misty bit her lip from snapping at him, but she knew that now was not the time. It was pitch black, save for a small flickering light ahead. Every little sound made Misty jump. She felt Ash's hand tighten around hers in a comforting squeeze. Misty relaxed. Ash would protect her. _

_  The light was getting closer now. Ash could here voices. He stopped and pulled Misty closer to the wall, listening intently. _

_  "You said this would work!"_

_  "Well, it didn't, but I know what went wrong."_

_  "The boss is SO going to kill us!" _

_  "Calm down! We'll just try again without the boss knowing, and if he does know, when we succeed, he'll be so happy!"_

_  Ash heard a snort and the sound of someone kicking the something hard. "Ha! The boss has the ultimate plan and is pretty much going to wipe out most of the city, what makes you think he won't hesitate to wipe us out?"_

_  Misty gripped Ash's hand. She looked at him with fearful eyes, knowing full well he couldn't' see it, but could feel it._

_  "That's why we're not going to tell him!"_

_  "Yo, Greg!"A new voice came out from beside Misty and Ash. Ash had to put a hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp. The man had just passed them!Iif he had gotten any closer…_

_   "What?"_

_   "The boss sent somethin' for ya for yer work."_

_   Ash's eyes widened. Forgetting to be quiet, he pushed Misty away and whispered harshly in her ear "run!" Just as the sound of gunshots filled the air_

_~*~*~*~_

Green eyes peeked around the corner and disappeared only to reappear two seconds later. "I don't see anyone…" 

  "Hush!" Ruby smacked him from the back. "You will if you keep talking!"

  Ash and Misty appeared behind them, Misty almost shivering and looking nervously all around. Ash gave her a side glance before turning back to Ruby and Joey. He put a finger to his lips and shook his head. Ruby and Joey glared at each other before moving along. As they moved down the hallway, a loud, but muffled voice could be heard from the end room. The door was closed, but the speaker was talking loud enough to hear through. Ash, Ruby and Joey ran to the door and stuck their ears against it. Misty hung back and wouldn't come closer than six feet of the door. Ash gave her an encouraging smile before whispering into Joey's ear. "Listen in, we," He motioned to Misty, "Are going to look around somewhere else." 

   Joey nodded. He looked at misty's shivering form only once more before turning his concentration back to the door. Ash stood up and walked up to Misty. He gave her a sympathetic smile. He took her hand and led her away from the door. 

~*~*~*~

   "…It's time, my friends, that we show our true abilities!" There was a pause while the cheering continued.  "It is time to show Kanto just what we are made of! We are going to show them all who is boss!" The room erupted in more cheering. The speaker stopped and waited for the right time to speak. "The strike begins in three days, so I want everyone ready to fight." The speaker paused and scanned the area before finishing the speech. "This, my fellow rocketers, is our time, and we are not going to lose!"

   Ruby's gaping state was interrupted by Joey pulling on her arm. "They're coming, let's go!" He whispered fiercely in her ear. Ruby stood shaking and followed after Joey. She heard the door open and rockets come pouring out just as she rounded the corner. 

~*~*~*~

   "What do we have here?" Ash peered curiously in the door window. 

  "Ash, come on, please!" Misty pulled on Ash's arm. "I really don't want to stay here any longer than we have to." 

  Ash waved her off with his hand and slowly turned the doorknob. Ash poked his head in to make sure it was safe. After securing the perimeter, Ash stood up straight and walked in, holding the door open for Misty. She gave him a hard glare as she passed him. "Now what is so special about this room?" She hissed. Ash simply gave her his famous grin and looked around. 

  Something scratched against the hard, cement floor. 

  Misty screeched and clung to Ash. Ash's face lit up as he knelt down. "I knew there was something in here!"

  Misty stared at Ash with her mouth wide open. "You KNEW something was in here? Are you TRYING to give me a heart-attack?!"

  Ash looked up at her and smirked. "Kind of hard to die when your already dead, now isn't it?"

  Misty frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "And you're just trying to test this out, aren't you?"

  "Maybe." Ash said no more and looked down at what made the sound. His chocolate brown eyes strained to see. He could make out a small cage and something was in that cage. Ash pulled on the sides of the cage looking for a door somewhere. He was concentrating so hard he didn't notice Misty leave his side until he felt something poking at his back.  

   Ash froze. Panic filled him as he slowly turned his head. Behind him was Misty, a grin planted on her face. "A key would help." Ash glared and grabbed the key from her hands mumbling to himself. In no time, he found the key hole and opened up the cage. To his surprise, something came flittering out. It flew in front of Ash's face, then flew around the room some more. It looked like a big yellow ball of static! It wasn't until the 'ball of static' stopped, that Ash realized it was a pokemon… or, at least he thought it was. Ash looked at it carefully. "You're a pokemon, right?"

  Misty smacked him in the back of his head. "Don't ask it that! You'll confuse it more!"

  The pokemon cocked its tiny head to the side and blinked its big black eyes. It had to be one of the more humanoid pokemon. It had two hands and two legs, but no mouth, and it was…tiny. There were to small antennas on top of it's head and four fairy wings, almost like a miniature scyther's wings came form it's back. Ash figured it was about as small as Togepi was, maybe a little bigger. It has blue skin, which looked almost furry. It covered it's whole body from head to toe. A flower with pink petals blossomed in between the antennas. The pokemon suddenly made a noise and flew over to Ash's shoulder and gracefully sat down. "What are you?" He asked curiously. 

  Misty thought it was silly of him to be asking it that when it had no mouth, but just the same, a small sound seemed to radiate from the small being. "Ix!"

  "An Ix?" Misty looked at Ash. "It's an 'Ix?"

  "Iiiix!" The pokemon suddenly sat up straight and looked behind Ash. Ash felt it shiver and he turned around as well. He heard the sound of shoes hitting the ground as rockets were obviously passing, and at a rather fast pace. "Ash," Misty whispered. "Let's get out of here."

  Ash looked at the pokemon on his shoulder. "You coming?"

  The pokmon, despite it having no mouth, grinned and nodded. It's large black eyes glimmered as Ash smiled back. 

~*~*~*~

  "Intruders! Catch the intruders!"

   "Ruby," Joey yanked Ruby's arm to the left to stop her from running into a wall of rockets. They heard voices form the rockets calling out their pokemon. Ruby happened to glance back as they ran down the hall.  There was around four pokemon chasing them, the other rockets had disappeared for some reason. "I hope Ash and Misty are okay…" She mumbled to herself, her wary eyes still watching the pokemon slowly gaining on them. 

   BANG

   "Owww," Ruby rubbed her nose and glared at the back of Joey's head. "Warn me before you…." Her voice trailed off when she glanced passed Joey's read hair. "Woa…" In front of Joey was a wall of pokemon. "great…" She mumbled. "How do we get outa this one?"

    "We have to fight." He grabbed three poke'balls from his belt and threw them. He leaned back to whisper, "Run the way we just came, there's less pokemon that way."

    "Don't you think they'd guard the exit the most?"

   Joey ignored her and ordered his Houndoom, Plato, and Pigeotto to attack. Ruby sighed and threw out her three poke'balls of her own. First came a Vulpix, it's ears bent back ready to charge. A Torchic came next, it's small body was hopping around ready to fight for its master. Lastly came a black haired pokemon with red, glowering eyes. Blood red stripes ran down all through it's tourso to its tail. Large black ears that usually drooped down were strong and rigid, waiting for its masters call. It's whiskers twitched in anticipation, and it's back was slightly arching. A low hissing noise was heard from deep withihn the pokemon's throat. "Trixa, flame thrower!" Trixa opened it's mouth wide and a ball of burning flame built up before it was finally released into a reign of fire going straight along the front line of pokemon. 

   "Alright, Trixa!" Ruby cheered. Joey smirked in her direction before subtly pully on her arm, a signal for them to make a break for it. Ruby nodded her understanding and whispered loud enough for her pokemon's ears only. "Ready everyone? One…two… three… run!"

   All pokemon and humans turned around and bolted passed the thin line of guards. Joey whirled around when he heard a small shriek. One of the rockets had grabbed Ruby! Without thinking, Joey lunged at the man. He tackled him to the floor and punched the rocket tight in the nose. Joey quickly grabbed Ruby's arm and resumed their running. 

~*~*~*~

   "Duck!" Ash pulled Misty down behind the door. Misty cowered behind Ash as the rockets flew past the door. There was a moment of silence, then a small, muffled shriek from outside the door. 

   "Ash!" Misty hissed into Ash's ear. "That was Ruby! We have to save them!"

   "How?" Ash frowned. He wanted to, his usual heroic instincs were coming in full blow, but so was common sense, something that slowly came with age. "The only pokemon we have is this one." He said referring to the small pixie like pokemon on his shoulder. 

   The pokemon's eyes flared and it made a small noise. "Ix!" The small pokemon flew off of Ash's shoulder to stare him right in the eye. "Ix ix!" 

   Ash blinked with surprise before a warm smile enveloped his face. Oh, how he missed his pokemon days. "You want to help?" The pokemon nodded. "Alright then" Ash gave a firm nod. He slowly stood up and pulled Misty to her feet. The pokemon flew right beside Ash and assumed a fighting stance. Ash took a deep breathe and looked back at Misty who gave an affirming nod.

CRASH!

   Joey and Ruby screeched to a halt, as did all the other rockets and their pokemon. From the door off to the size came Ash and Misty,a nd another little pokemon they had picked up.  Ash grinned and nodded to Joey and Ruby. He turned to the pokemon and said, "Alright, show me what you can do!"

  The pokemon flew up as an odd glow emitted from itself. One of the rockets yellow out, "The Pixit escaped!" Another one cried out, "Run!" Half of the rockets ran away, taking their pokemon with them. The other rockets stood there in awe of the pokemon. One of the more expierence rockets cursed under her breath. "They let it out." She immediately turned to her Abra and yelled out the command, "Barrier!"

   Pixit was still flying in the air, her Pixie like wings were going so fast you could barely see them. The aura around her was getting stronger and brighter. Ash gapped and stepped back with Joey and Ruby to watch. "What's it doing?" He asked. 

   Joey was too surprised that Ash had gotten a Pixit to listen to it, let alone find one, to be suspicious of his question. "It's a stone attack, it stops everything it wants it to for a certain amount of time, and it depends on how high the pokemon's level is." Joey studied the pokemon. "And it looks likke it will be more than enough to get us out of here." He ignored the snort of 'maybe' form Ruby. 

   Ash turned to Misty. "You take them out of here and help them escape, I'm going to wait for Pixit."

   Misty's mouth fell open and she stared at him like he had just suggested she go walk off a bridge. "Are you CRAZY?!" She hissed. "I'm not leaving you here alone!" She bit her lip to keep from saying '_And what posses you to think I know what I'm doing?' _

   Ash sighed and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "We're guardian angels Misty, it's our job. I promise I'll come and get to you." He leaned back and looked at her, his chocolate brown eyes pleading with her. "Please?"

   Misty's eyes shook, but she took a step backwards giving him a small, reassuring smile. She turned to Joey and Ruby and nodded. "Alright," She took a few steps passed them and announced, "Let's go find a way out!"

   "What about Ash?" Ruby asked, still hesitant to follow. 

  Misty turned and winked at Ruby. "He can take care of himself."

  Ash watched as they disappeared around a corner, his heart aching to follow them, but he knew he had to stay here with Pixit. He turned his attention back to the rockets. A 'Don't let them escape!' passed one of the rockets lips. Ash growled and shouted, "Let them have it, Pixit!"

  The golden aura around Pixit was finally released. For a moment, Ash felt it hard to breathe. It was so bright! Then as soona s it came, it was gone. He breathed in the air. "Wow…" He looked at Pixit was watching him with glinting black eyes. When she new he was okay, she moved her head to the direction Misty and the others went. Ash grinned and nodded. "Let's go then."

~*~*~*~

   "Look, Misty! There's a door!" Joey pointed down the hall to the left. 

   Misty bit her lip. It was too easy, way too easy. She slowed down to a stop and put her hand out as a signal for the others to stop as well. "Go slower."

   She took careful steps towards the door. 

   Something wasn't right. 

   There was a click from behind one of the doors before the exit. "DOWN!" She screamed just as the door was kicked open by a rocket with a gun. "Ash!" Misty dropped to the ground with her hands over her ears and tears coming to her eyes. 

~*~*~*~

   _"It's okay Misty! It's okay!" Ash pulled Misty into the bush. He put a finger to her lips in an effort to quite down her cries. Ash closed his eyes and held Misty close in his arms. He feverently prayed the rockets wouldn't hear or find them. He could hear the voice cursing in the distance. Ash held his breathe and pulled Misty in even closer. He was coming this way! Misty was shaking in his arms, her head buried in his shoulder, she did her best to muffle her cries in his shirt. Ash heard the rocket finally growl and the sound of a fist hitting a tree – and the curses following. "Heh, it's not like anyones going to know there was anyone there. I did what I was told to do." Ash heard the sound of feet leaving, but then it stopped and he heard, "If yous are out der, know this, if I ever see or hear yous talkin' to the authorities, you're in BIG trouble!"_

_  Ash's eyes narrowed and he waited until he was sure the rocket was far away. He blinked back his own tears and rubbed Misty's back. "Shhh… it's okay, we're okay…"_

_   "But… but he SHOT him!" _

_   Ash frowned. He should've known. He should've walked behind Misty so she didn't have to see it, why was he spared, and Misty wasn't? "He blew his head off Ash! And the blood… so much blood, Ash!" Ash buried his head in misty's hair, crying for her, "How can anyone do that?"_

_  Ash sighed and hugged Misty. "I don't know." He carefully pried her away from his soaked shirt and looked into her blood-shot eyes. "You think you're up for going to tell Lance?"_

_ Ash studied her eyes carefully. She had seen what she shouldn't have, and she was going to suffer for it – but then again, Ash had a feeling that this wasn't going to be anything new anymore. What had they gotten themselves into? _

_  Thousands of emotions were flowing through Misty's head, all thoughts were jumbled together, however, one rational though did manage to enter. Ash wanted to go to tell Lance, and she wasn't going to get left behind. Misty finally gathered herself up and shook the image from her mind long enough o look Ash in the eye and say, "I'm coming with you."_

~*~*~*~

    Joey cringed and waited for death to come, but he didn't feel a thing. He looked up from his crouched position on the ground and saw Ash and Pixit standing over them, Pixit putting up a rather strong barrier. Joey sighed, relief runnig through him. He sat up and shook Ruby. Her head shot up and she looked at him, fear was apparent in her eyes, but she put on a brave face and shakily stood up. Joey smiled slightly and nodded to her. 

   Ash gently knelt down and put a gentle hand on misty's head. "It's alright Misty, see?"

   Ash's voice shook Misty out of her trance. She looked up at Ash. Ash gave her an encouraging smile and she let him help her to her feet. "Let's go, Pixit, can you keep up the barrier?"

   Pixit nodded to affirm it. She glared hard at the rocket as she slowly moved to be behind her new master and his friends so she could block any thoughts of harm from the evil man. Her eyes twinkled when she realized that this man was afraid of her and her power. A low 'ix!" (which sounded more like a giggle) was heard just as she disappeared and everyone was out where it was safe. 

Ah, yes, that was… longer ^_^;;; Hope you enjoyed this part. Good news is I have the whole plotline idea planned out for this story, bad news is I have no time. But I hope you all are enjoying it so far, maybe if you review it'll give me more instentive to finish this! *coughintcough*

New pokemon:

   Trixa: a Fire pokemon, looks kind of like Espeon except is black and has deep crimson stripes all over and red eyes.

   Pixit: Pixie pokemon, actually kinda looks like Lillymon now that I think of it o.o;; Anyway, it's also kind of like Celebii in power wise, and in rarity. It's very rare to find, let alone catch one, and yes of course, our Ash has managed to catch one. It's also very powerful and is a time/plant pokemon. 

~Smile Jesus loves you!

    

    __


	7. Egg anyone?

Second Chances 

**~* Part 7; Egg anyone? *~**

It was a clear night, the starts shown as bright as ever, something you didn't get to see often in a brightly lit city. The moon was nearly full, and almost had the orangish glow to it all full moons had. The soft ground was shaded by the over hanging trees while streams of star light shown through the cracks the trees had failed to cover. It wasn't as bright as morning or when the sun was out mind you, but it was still the perfect peacefulness to calm the most restless of spirits. 

   Misty sat, a good mile away from camp, perched up on a log staring up at the stars through the crack in the trees. One leg was pulled up to her chest, which she held with her arms linked together and her chin rested on the knee. A faint smile was placed upon her lips as she stared at the night sky. She never told Ash, but she sometimes missed the Heavens. She missed being able to see the stars wherever you looked. You couldn't see that in Pewter. In a way, although she hated forests, she loved it. It had that peacefulness that Heaven had - the much needed peacefulness. 

   The group had run from Rocket forest and skimmed through Pewter, stopping only to heal their pokemon. They had somehow escaped the trailing rockets, which really wasn't that hard seeing as how they were all terrified of Pixit's magnificent power. Now, here they were, taking a break in Viridian forest just a few hours from Viridian city where they would turn to go on the path to the pokemon league. Ash had specifically stated that this was a job for the professionals and both Joey and Ruby had readily agreed – both for different reasons, Ruby eager to leave it all behind and move on, and Joey had it imprinted in his mind that he himself was a 'professional'.  

   Misty sighed contentedly. It was weird for her, Misty, to be happy in a forest of all places. Something about this place gave her peace, she didn't worry about bugs, or rockets, or anything that would harm her. She knew tonight was one of the few peaceful nights. Misty let her eyes glaze over staring at the stars as her mind wandered to many years before…

 ~*~*~*~

   _"Misty?" Misty turned her head from the window and looked at Ash expectantly. Ash inwardly cringed at the sight of such dullness and pain in Misty's eyes. They had only made it to Viridian City before Ash decided it was time for a break. So there she was, sitting in the pokemon center staring out the window, just waiting. She didn't know what she was waiting for, she just knew, she knew she was waiting for something. _

_  Ash took a deep breath and smiled encouragingly. "Come on." He reached out his hand. _

_  Misty stared at the hand. Finally she cocked her head and asked, "Where?"_

_  Ash's grin widened. "You'll see, now come on." He stretched his hand out farther in Misty's direction._

_  Misty skeptical at first, but she then swallowed it back and smiled at Ash. She took his hand and let him pull her up. Ash's grin widened and he enthusiasticly pulled her towards the door. "Let's go!" Misty laughed and didn't even bother to ask where they were going, she just let Ash drag her away from everything._

_  ~_

_   Misty squealed with glee as the laughing Ash pulled her through a small patch of trees to some unknown spot that was supposed to be a surprise. Ash looked back at her smiling face with his own smile of satisfaction making its way onto his own face. Today had been great. He had surprised Misty by taking her to a carnival in Viridian. It had taken her a while, but she eventually forgot about what she had seen only a few days ago and let herself go. _

_  "Here we are!" Ash finally slowed to a stop and let go of Misty's hand. _

_  Misty stopped giggled and stepped out of the trees. It was a beautiful lake! Her smile turned into a grin as she saw a Goldeen float around in the small lake. Her eyes glittered in the moonlight as a sudden thought entered her mind. Quickly she raced to the edge of the lake and pulled her socks and shoes off. She rolled up her jeans and sat down, spreading her legs out in front of her so that her feet were hidden in the water. "Come on Ash!"_

_ Ash smiled, happy she was her old self again, and sat down beside her. "Pikachu would've loved it here." Ash smiled at the thought of his favorite pokemon. Misty laughed and nodded. "Togepi too," Her eyes grew dull for a moment, and Ash regretted his words. Misty saw the look on his face and put on a smile. "Ash, you can't keep me from the memory forever."_

_  Ash frowned and put his arms around her. "I can try."_

_  Misty buried her head in Ash's shirt. There was a silent moment before she spoke again, "I know Ash, I really appreciate today, I haven't had this much fun in a while."_

_  "I know…"_

_  Misty moved her head so that she could look into Ash's eyes. "Ash, I'm not going to let this rule me." She stopped talking and took a deep breath, "Granted it may take me a while, but with you helping me, it won't rule my every thought."_

_  Ash smiled and wrapped his arms around Misty. She sighed contentedly, but then shook her head and pulled away from Ash's embrace. "I have to tell you something."_

_  "What?" A stray hand moved to Misty's hair and played with a few stray orange strands. _

_  "I know this is supposed to be out 'honeymoon', even if it's two months after we're married," Misty smiled down at her ring for a moment before resuming her talk. "So this may sound a little strange," Misty moved Ash's hand from her hair and held it tightly. "Ash, I'm pregnant."_

_~_

  Misty stifled a giggle. Ruby, who was walking beside her, gave her an odd look, but shrugged it off and resumed her walking. It was the next day, and once again, no one knew how to read the map. Joey held the map in his hands, it was lifted up in front of his face so he could study it better (as though it would help). Ash was behind him, looking over his shoulder seeing if he could decipher anything at all. 

   Ruby groaned and rubbed her forehead. "You guys have no idea where we are, do you?"

  Joey briefly put the map down to grin at her and answer, "We're in the Viridian forest." and resumed looking over the map. Ruby frowned and flipped a stray strand of black hair back were it belonged. Misty chuckled slightly and gave Ruby a sympathetic look. 

  "HEY!" 

  All four friends stopped and looked to their left. There was a brown-haired girl with a black hat on and a black outfit with a big 'R'. "Hey! You're the twerps who beat us before!"

   Ash let a small sweat-drop trickle down the back of his head. He leaned over to whisper to Misty, "I'm beginning to see a pattern here…" Misty only giggled and nodded.

   "Hey," Joey cocked his head, "I think I remember you, what's your name again?" He thought while the rocket was getting annoyed by her lack of intimidation. Finally, Joey snapped his fingers and said, "You're Teretta!" The rocket smacked a hand to her face and sighed. "Heather?" Joey tried again, "Sherrie?" 

  "REBECCA!" She yelled out. "And you better remember that name too!"

  Ruby, unfaized by it all leaned closer to her to see over the bush. "What are you doing over there?" 

  Rebecca stiffened and stepped back. "None of your business!"

  Joey rolled his eyes and turned away. "Probably nothing important, come on guys." 

  Ruby nodded her head and turned to follow Joey. Ash gave Rebecca a sympathetic smile before turning away also. Pixit, who sat on Ash's shoulder, tunred briefly only to flick her wings at her, then turn back on Ash's shoulder.  Misty hesitated for a moment, something pulling her to see what she was doing.  Rebecca frowned and stomped her foot. "Hey! I'm team rocket! You're supposed to fear me! Just wait till Joel and Tyler come back!"

  "Who?" Joey called out lazily. 

  Rebecca, once again, stomped her foot and came through the bushes. "Why you, Joel or no Joel, I'm going to give you a reason to remember me!" She pulled out her poke'ball and threw it. "Go Ariados!"

   Ariados's antennas twitched as it stood there, waiting for it's command. 

   Ash sighed and nodded to Pixit who was itching to kick some rocket butt. With only a quick Psychic, Pixit blew Ariados and Rebecca into the sky and they disappeared with a soft 'ping'. Ash laughed quietly to himself, "Ah, it sounds strange, but I missed that sound…"

   Misty smiled slightly, but moved over to the bush Rebecca was hiding behind, and peered over. Her cerulean eyes softened as she gazed down at the object wrapped in a blue cloth. Ruby came running over to see what Misty had spotted when she noticed that Misty had crossed over to pick it up. "What is it?" She asked, her red eyes shinning with curiosity. 

  Misty smiled and cuddled the object to her. "It's a pokemon egg."

~*~*~*~

  Ash chuckled softly as he watch Misty. She had gently wrapped the little egg in a blanket from her pack and was talking sweet nothings into the little egg's shell. Ash, who was walking beside Joey, stepped back to speak softly with his wife. "You are aware that it can't hear you, right?"

  Misty scoffed and held the egg closer. "Ha! You don't know that. Besides," She leaned closer to Ash's ear, "If I recall, you were talking to our baby in my stomach, were you not?" Ash blushed and recalled. He crossed his arms and shook his head. "So what. There was a layer of skin between that, and now it's a hard shell that nothing can get through." He wrapped his knuckles on the egg just to prove his point. 

  "ASH!" Misty scolded him. She shoved him forward so that he was right behind Ruby and Joey before resuming her cooing to her new found egg. 

  Ash smiled slightly and rolled his eyes. Ah, yes, Misty missed both their child and Togetic. Ash wondered idly where the little egg pokemon was…

  "LOOK!" Ash turned expectantly to Joey. 

  "What?"  
  "I think I actually know where we are!"

  Snorting, Ruby crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Yea, we're in the Viridian forest, we ALL know that one already." Joey shook his head.  

  "No," He said irritably. "I think Viridian city is just ahead."

  Sighing, Ruby shook her head. "Right, knowing our luck, we'll miss it and keep going around in circles."

  "Oh ye of little faith!" Joey held his head high and walked a slightly faster pace, determined to prove Ruby wrong. 

  Every one in a great while, all the directionally challenged people need to have their days, and today, was Joey's day. Just as he said, only after a half hour of walking, they did actually reach the edge of Viridian City. Joey, of course, would not let Ruby hear the end of it. Joey was so happy, he wanted to go straight to the pokemon league and announce their presence, until Ruby caused reality to come crashing down on him. "And how exactly are we supposed to get THEM to listen to US?"

   Joey stopped his waltz to the league gates and blinked. "Darn…" He mumbled. "Hey, maybe they'll recognize my great skill as the next pokemon master and let me in early –"

  "NOT likely!" Ruby snapped. 

  "Hey," Misty chimed in, "Why don't we," motioning her head to Ash and her self since the egg was safely in her arms, "try since we both look like the previous Ash and Misty," Ash gave her a sideways glance, not sure if that was the best course to go. Misty nodded in his direction, knowing what he was thinking of, but they needed to get there fast, and this seemed like the only way. 

  Ruby slowly nodded her head, thinking the idea over in her head. "I like the idea…but you know people do try and look like Ash and Misty, right?"

  A sudden picture of hundreds of Ash's swarming around her, doing all the things that made Ash, well, Ash, made its way into Misty's imagination. A large sweat-drop formed in the back of her head and she quickly shook it off – no. There was only ONE Ash Ketchum, and he was standing next to her, seeming to have the same though with little Misty's running circles around his head. Ash chuckled and nodded in response to ruby's announcement. "I know." He said quietly. He gave Misty a knowing glance before perking up and walking ahead of the group. "Well, let's get going then!"

  "ASH!"

  Ash stopped and turned around, his eyes questioning her cerulean eyes. "I'm tired!" Misty whined. Ruby soon followed suite.

  "I want a bed!" 

  "But-" Joey gaped. His mouth hung open like a sick fish. 

  "Anyway," Misty continued, looking at Ruby nodded towards the pokemon center. "Bob needs his rest."

  "But we're so close!" Joey argued, still amazed they would quit this early. "And who's Bob?"

  Ash chuckled softly and put a hand on Joey's shoulder. "You might as well give it up, they're going to get their way no matter what." Joey frowned and crossed his arms. He looked about ready to protest, but Ash had already made his way to the pokemon center behind the other small group. Joey heaved a sigh and slowly followed, dragging his feet he whole way. 

 ~*~*~*~

   Piercing blue eyes watched the new group come in. They followed their every move and she studied them with great care. A frown was apparent on her face, but her eyes were hard, and even slightly confused. She folded her arms against her chest as she leaned back in her chair, still watching them, beyond caring I they noticed or not. Why were they so familiar? 

~*~*~*~

  "Misty…." Ash elbowed Misty side. 

  "Ash!" Misty yelped. She gently shoved him back. "What was that for?" Ash pulled Misty to the side and nodded to the corner. 

  "She's staring at us, she's BEEN staring at us, and it's unnerving."

  "Ash Ketchum," Misty crossed her arms. "You who can do battles in front of thousands and thousands of people can't stand one person staring at you. Can you blame her?"

  "It just," He shifted on his feet. He couldn't really explain it, "It just feels weird. I feel like I should know her."

  Misty rolled her eyes, slightly agitated. "Ash, you're over a hundred, she's, what?" She glanced over in the girl's direction. "18? I hightly doubt you ever met. But if you care so much, go over and talk to her! I'll wait here while Ruby and Joey get the pokemon healed."

  Ash shook his head and grabbed Misty's arm. "Misty, please?" His took a deep breath and started the trick he hadn't used in ages – the famous puppy-dog eyes. "Pweeeease?"

   "FINE!" Misty frowned and turned on her heal to march over to the girl whose blue eyes were still watching her move towards her. Ash gaped before starting after his wife. "Wait!" He hissed. "I didn't mean like this! Misty- wait!"

  "You got a problem?" Misty stopped in front of the girl, her arms folded across her chest, securing the egg in front of her while she stopped over to glare at the sitting girl. 

  The girl smirked and shook her head. "You're new, I haven't seen you before."

  Misty 'tsk'ed and stood up straight. "I could have told you that. Now do you mind NOT staring at us?"

  The girl cocked her head, the smirk never leaving her face. Her own arms were folded across her chest. She uncrossed her legs and slowly rose to her feet to stand up to Misty. She stood an two inches taller than Misty – probably her three inch heels – Misty muttered. She had a black trench coat on with a black shirt and black jeans. Her black hair was wild and unruly in pigtails and she wore a red bandana around her neck. "I want to know why you like them."

  Misty's frown increased. "Who are you that we should answer to you?" She was ignoring Ash's frantic gestures for her to quit. 

  "I'm Catrinna."

  Misty rolled her eyes. "Is that supposed to actually mean something to me?" Her attitude was really getting to her. She reminded her too much of… herself.

  Catrinna narrowed her solid blue eyes. "It should. I'm the great-granddaughter of Lance and the current pokemon master." 

    __

AAAAND we're going to leave off there for now. MWHAAA! Best part is I actually know what I'm planning! Isn't it great?! Hope you enjoyed!

Okay, everyone seems to be getting confused, therefore, I'm going to make a timeline! Yaaay! *Ahem* More will be added as more is revealed so you don't get TOO confused ^_^

This is for Ash and Misty only! You don't need a timeline for the times with Ruby when it's in chronological story order 

 Age 18             Age 19-in-a-half                                                                                                               Age 25

Ash proposes   TR plan revealed/baby announcement                                                                            Death of Ash and Misty

----/--------/----/--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------/-------------

            Age 19 

           Marriage!


	8. Near Heart Attacks

Hello all! And how long as it been? Yes, yes, I know, too long. I'm sorry! I didn't want ot give a half baked story … course… it's only half of what I originally planned, but it's still fairly long, so enjoy!

Reviews:

Moezy-chan: Eh heh… Didn't update 'soon' did I? Hope you like this chapter just as much!

Amber Myst: Was this classified as 'soon'? Eh… you don't have to answer that… thanks for the review and hope you like the chapter!

Spiraea Kozak: Hope I won't disappoint you with Bob and Ash beating the crap out of her, but actually, that's a good idea…hee hee evil ideas appear in Joy's brain

Etherelemental: Thanks again for your faithful reviews Hope you approve of this chapter too, and hopefully its not too confusing.

Just me and myself: Glad you like it! Thanks for reviewing

Gladdecease: Hope this is less confusing. It'll get better as the story goes on, more is revealed. Maybe I'll add their grandchildren in… maybe not… thanks for the review!

P.S. I want to add that the present battle wont go on as nearly as long as Ash and Misty's did, their kid needs to grow up a little – but that would be revealing too much, ne? Read and hope you like!

Second Chances 

**Part 8; Near Heart Attacks**

   "So how do I know what you're telling me is the truth?" Catrinna's smirk had folded downwards. She, Ash, Misty, Joey and Ruby were all sitting in her office, just a few blocks from the pokemon center where they had met her.

   Misty snorted and rolled her eyes. "Then don't." She held her egg closer to herself.  Ash subtly elbowed Misty and glared in her direction.

   Catrinna ignored the two and leaned back in her chair. "I can't just believe every person that comes here and says Team Rocket is ready to attack. I need some solid proof."

   Joey scowled and jumped up. "So you're just going to sit back and let team Rocket attack? Ash didn't do that!"

   "Ash was also the pokemon master." Catrinna explained, as calmly as she could manage. "He had no other word to believe but his own."

   Ash felt his own frown deepen. How were they going to get her to believe them? "You've heard the talk that Team Rocket is starting to band again, and that only means one thing. You have to stop it before it gets to far!"

  Catrinna heaved a sigh and leaned forward in her chair. Her fingers went to her temples as she rubbed them. "Okay, let's just hypothisis for a minute that you were right, what do you plan on doing about it?"

   Joey's green eyes lit up as he lept to his feet and proclaimed, "We attack the jerks! Get them before they have a chance to really build themselves up!" He smashed his right fist into his left palm for more emphasis. Ruby sighed and reached up to pull his ear, causing him to fall down into his seat. "You idiot!" She rolled her eyes and smacked him. "We can't go waltzing in there with just the four," she looked at Catrinna with hopeful eyes, "Er, I mean five of us, right?" Her hopeful look never faded as she studied Catrinna with hopeful eyes.

  Catrinna shook her head and stood up, pushing her chair back. "Give me tonight to think and talk it over, okay?"

  "TONIGHT?!" Joey almost jumped up again, but this time Misty reached over and kept a hand pressed on his head.

  "Chill!" She hissed. "Be glad we're getting this much!" Joey pouted and slouched back down into the chair. Ash gave a tired smile and nodded his thanks. "Well, I guess we'll see you tomorrow?"

   Catrinna barely nodded and gave him a wave of the hand signaling she was done. Ash stood up and motioned for the others to follow. The other solemnly stood up and followed him. It wasn't until they were out of the building that joey could hold it in no longer. "THAT ARROGANT B-"

  "JOEY!" Ruby smacked him with her mallet. (Misty smiled behind her, secretly proud) "She may be arrogant, but she's the only chance of hope we've got, not to mention the pokemon master. She could beat you in a heart-beat!"

  "HA! Could not!"

  "Could too!"

  "could not!"

  "Could too!"

  "Could not!"

  "Could too!"

  "Could not!"

  "Could –"

  "SHUT-UP!" Ash frowned and shook his head. "Everyone just…" He closed his eyes to calm himself.  "let's just go back to the pokemon center and stay the night shall we?" With that, Ash stepped ahead of the others and continued to the pokemon center. Ruby and Joey looked at each other and shrugged, following after him. Misty's brow was furrowed with worry. She stood back for a little bit, trying to decide what was wrong. She shook her head and slowly followed after her three companions. They WOULD be having a talk tonight.

  _She found him that night. The full moon was read and bright, despite the dark feeling of dread in their hearts. He was sitting on his bed, staring out the window. His eyes were searching, searching for something. She could only guess the answer. But it was a rare sight to see him so quit. She was worried. So quietly, she stepped over to his spot by the window and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder before sitting down beside him. The only response she got form him was the blinking of his eyes. "Ash? What's on your mind?"_

_ "Do you think I'm making the right decision, waiting like this?"_

_  Misty hugged him from behind. "Ash, we don't have any other choice. We won't get reinforcements to help us until tomorrow. We couldn't have charged them on our own you know."_

_  "I know, but I'm still worried."_

_  "Ash, if something did happen, then we couldn't have stopped it no matter what. They are ready – we aren't. But we will be ready tomorrow, so don't worry about now, okay?"_

_  "But I'm the pokemon master –" Misty placed a finger on his lips. _

_  "Even pokemon masters have to learn some patience." Ash smiled slightly. Misty grinned and leaned over to kiss him on the lips. She pulled back only to have Ash leaned back with her and follow her lips. "I love you." She whispered._

_  "Love you too." He grinned and resumed his kisses. _

__

_  RING RING_

_ "Mph…"_

_  "I'll get it…" Ash swung his arm over Misty and grabbed the cordless phone, brining it to his ear. "Hm?" He mumbled into the receiver. He rubbed his tired eyes, still only half awake. _

_  "Mr. Ketchum? This is Kistler, I thought I should inform you that Saffron was attacked last night."_

_  Ash shot up. "What?" Misty opened one eye and watched his reaction carefully. _

_  "Saffron was attacked last night, sir. Team Rocket attacked them." Misty cocked her head to the side to show her confusion and worry. Ash shook his head and continued talking on the phone._

_  "How many was hurt?" His voice was hoarse and cracking from sleep and disbelief. _

_  "…so far we've counted 50 wounded and 50 killed sir."_

_   Ash hung his head low so that his messy bed hair covered his eyes. "Thank-you for informing me. I'll be in as soon as possible." He clicked the end button on the phone and numbly got out of the bed, his hair still hiding his eyes. _

_  A confused Misty bit her lip and scooted closer to Ash's side. "Ash?" She asked gently, "What happened?" Ash was silent as he pulled his pants over his boxers and slipped on a white button down shirt. She waited patently for him to gather enough nerve to tell her. _

_  "Saffron was attack last night.100 were either wounded or injured."_

_  Misty's blue eyes widened as a hand shot to her mouth to stifle a gasp. "Ash…"Ash wasn't done. _

_  "Professor Oak and Tracey were there on a tour." Misty felt tears come to her eyes. Tears of worry and tears of pain. _

_  "Ash…"Ash finally lifted his head, bitter tears were forming in his eyes. He put on his trusty hat and looked to Misty._

_  "I know we couldn't have done anything last night Misty, but" He squeezed his eyes shut. "I wish to heaven we had at least tried."_

__

  "GOOD MORNING!"

   Misty grunted and buried her head in the pillow, pulling the sheets further over her head. Ruby frowned and crossed her arms. She looked to her left to check the progress of Joey. He took the less subtle approach and was jumping on Ash. "WAAAAAAKE UUUUUUUUUP!" Ash mumbled something inaudible and motioned for Joey to get off. Pixit made a motion to help her master, but decided to stay back and watch, amusement plainly written on its face. Ruby looked back down to exam Misty. How was she going to wake her up?

   Joey had finally succeeded in bringing Ash to life (after threatening to use his growleithe) and was making his way over to see how Ruby was doing. "You can't be nice, or they'll never wake up." He explained. He perused Misty's sleeping form then grinned as an idea formed in his brain. He reached down and gently pulled away the egg that was so carefully tucked away in her sleeping bag. "Hey Misty…" He taunted, "I've got your egg and I'm really hungry!"

  Well… it worked… Misty jumped form her sleeping bag, grabbed her egg from the clutches of Joey, and smacked him in the head once she was sure her precious egg was safe. "You do that again," She threatened, leaning in for effect, "and I will hurt you."

  "Geez…" Joey rubbed his head and looked at Ruby, "She's worse than you!"

  Ash rubbed his eyes and smirked as Misty stalked to the bathroom. "You deserved that and you know it." He yawned and stretched.

  "AAAASH!" It came from the bathroom!

  Ash raced form his sleeping bag, still in boxers a shirt, worry coursing through his head. What happened? Was Team Rocket there? Was something wrong with Misty? He was closely followed by Ruby and Joey. Once he got the bathroom door, he ripped it open ready to defeat any foe that threatened to hurt his Misty – and there she was, sitting on the closed toilet seat (all clothes on) making cooing noises at her egg. She glanced up at Ash. "That was fast."

  Ash's mouth dropped open, at the moment he was willing his heart to go back down to an at least slightly healthy rate. "What," he panted out, "Is wrong?"

  Misty jumped up and exclaimed, "I felt Bob moving! He's almost ready to hatch!"

  Ash blinked rapidly at her, trying to digest the information. "You mean…" he said slowly, "You screamed bloody murder just because your dumb egg was hatching?"

  Misty held her egg closer and pouted. "I didn't scream bloody murder and Bob isn't dumb!"

  Joey coughed slightly and poked his head around enough to confirm Ash's rant then whip his head back behind Ash to avoid being hit for the second time that day. Ash closed his eyes and shook his head. "Misty…"

  Misty smiled sheepishly. She knew Ash was rather jumpy lately, so she shouldn't have yelled. So she stepped closer to him and stood on her tippy-toes and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm okay." She stepped back suddenly. "Ash!" She cried. "It's cracking!"

   Ruby shoved Ash aside and looked down at the egg. "Aw! It is! I wonder what it'll be!"

  "Hey!" Joey maneuvered his way beside Ruby so that all four of them were in the same bathroom at the same time. More cracking. Four pairs of eyes were watching the egg intently. Slowly, a little webbed foot appeared on one side of the egg, then another. Soon, a fuzzy, blue head pooped out of the top of the egg as its beady purple eyes stared intently at Misty. A little egg shell was still left on it head as it pulled the rest of its furry body out. It had two tiny little crystal wings and two fuzzy three fingered hands. The pokemon finally got all the way out of it's shell and shook the last piece of egg from its head and squeaked happily at its new found freedom.

   Misty squealed and lifted the pokemon up so it was eye level. "You're so CUTE! What are you?"  Joey moved closer to examine the furry pokemon.

   "It looks like a…Kip?"

   "IP!" The pokemon wiggled joyfully in Misty's hands.

   "I guess it is a Kip then." Misty pressed her nose up to the pokemon round, red nose and grinned. "You're cute."

    Two hours later, Ash found himself pouting over a bowl of cereal, right beside a grumbling Joey. "Is she done yet?" Joey snapped.

   Ruby was sitting across form them and put a finger to her lips. "Oh hush! Kip's a newborn, it needs help eating."

  "Excuse me…" Nurse Joy poked her head in the doorway. All head looked up at Nurse Joy. Kip squealed and wiggled in its mother's arms. "I have a message for you all." She held a disk in her hand. It was small, square, and flat. "It must be very important, the person who delivered said it needed to be seen right away." She handed the disk to Joey and bowed quickly and politely before leaving.

  "Wonder what it is…" Joey cocked his head, staring at the black disk in his hands.

  "Well put it in the player, idiot!" Ruby snapped, just as anxious as he was.

  Ash leaned over to Misty while they were fiddling with the disk player. "What ever happened to good 'ol vids? We could talk back and forth with those."

  Misty shrugged, "Hush, they got it working now."

  A flash suddenly lit up the room and the top of the disk player (it looked something like a VCR) was a flat projection of Catrinna. "Alright," She started out. "I believe you."

   "Hello to you too…" Joey mumbled, his arms crossed.

  "Shut-up!" Ruby snapped. Ash and Misty leaned closer from their seats.

  "Last night there was an attack on Saffron City. We're holding them off now, but I'm heading off to attack there now, so if you want, you may come to the office and get a flight to Saffron as soon as you want. We could use all the help we can get." She paused, "I just don't want to tire my pokemon out." She snapped then the screen went blank.

   Silence ruled the room until Ash stood up, his chair scratched against the tile floor. "Let's go." He turned to the pokemon on his shoulder. "Pixit, you with me?"

  "IT!" The pokemon nodded its eyes gleaming.

  "I'm coming to!" Ruby affirmed

  "Me three!" Joey grinned, "Let's go kick some rocket butt!"

  "Misty," Ash turned to her. "I want you to stay here, you don't have a pokemon to protect yourself with."

  "Ash," Misty whined, "You can't leave me behind! I'll borrow a pokemon!"

  "No." Ash said firmly. "You're going to stay at the league, understand."

  "What?" Misty scowled. She held a hand behind her ear, the signal for hearing. "I didn't understand you."

  "Misty! Please be reasonable!" Ash's patience was running very thin. His adult side was taking over as he whipped his face around to the staring Ruby and Joey. "Would you please excuse us for a minute? Go get ready, I'll meet you at the league."  As silently as they could the pair tiptoed out of the room, fearful of invoking the usual peaceful Ash's wrath. Pixit flew off of Ash's shoulder and grabbed Kip, carrying it out of the room where both of them could esacpe the explosion. Once they had gone Ash once again turned to his wife and slammed his fists on the table. "Darn it Misty! PLEASE! I can't look out for you with only one pokemon!"

  "You don't have to look out for me, Ash!" Her voice was rising. "I'm quite capable of looking out for myself! You can't just leave me behind and go waltzing around playing hero all the time! I have to make sure you don't make and of your stupid ideas!"

   "I'm over 100 years old Misty!" Ash replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "I think I can handle myself without your 'brilliance',"

   "Well you obviously can't acting like this! I can handle myself, it's you I'm worried about, idiot!"

   "You don't have your pokemon anymore Misty!" Ash yelled. "You're going to get hurt, and I won't be able to protect you!" Ash's voice suddenly dropped, the anger gone, all that was left was frustration and pain, "Please Misty," His voice cracked from the strain, "please, stay behind. You knw tat taking this as seriously as they should and you know this is going to be hard, even with pokemon, without pokemon to defend yourself with, it'll be near impossible. Please Misty," His eyes were shaking with emotion as he bent his head down and touched nose to nose with her. His voice lowered to a whisper. "I promise I'll return to you, even if its in Heaven. We have a job to do, and I doubt it'll be over after this. Both of us can't die there. Please, stay."

   Misty was silent. She bit her lip looking out the window. Finally, she nodded her consent. Ash let out a deep breath he didn't know he was holding. He kissed her lightly on the cheek and whispered, "I love you." in her ear before walking to the door. He only paused a minute to look back at Misty, She was still staring out the window, her hands folded in her lap. "I'll meet you at the league when we get back!"

   (Quick note: This is going to get confusing, it's a flashback inside a flashback, so um… everything is still italics, but the extra flash back _Is going to be inside these, okay? _Okay! Hope you don't get confused ;;)

   _Misty bit her lip as she stared at the figure in bed. She put a hand on his bandaged head, remembering their last conversation._

_  "You have to stay here!" An angry Ash flashed in her memory. The determined look she fell in love with was now set on his face – a look she was now loathing. _

_  "Why? So I can let you run off without me and get killed leaving me to mother our child alone?!" She unconsciously put a hand on her growing belly – a belly that was due to empty in 2 months._

_  "NO!" Ash sighed in frustration. "You have to stay here for the baby! You're slower Misty." He explained. "You're slower even if you won't admit it. You're pokemon were barely able to protect you in the last battle!"_

_  "Ash, I need to protect you!"_

_  "That's why I have pokemon! Let me protect you, and you protect the baby, for once, please!" Ash helped her sit down. "Please Misty," he said kneeling beside her. "I promise I will return just fine."_

' Liar!' _Misty scolded him in her head. Her hand was now gripping his on unmoving hand. '_You lied! You said you'd come back just fine!' _"Does this look fine to you?" She cried bitterly. Ash was lying on the bed, far from fine, his head was bandaged from behind body slammed into a wall. He had burn marks all over his body. His leg was broken from who knows what, and he had scratches and bruises all over. "Ash," She mumbled, "You should've let me come with you. Why did I agree?"_

_  Her moist eyes glanced over the damage. She noticed the bandage around his arm was turning a pinkish red. She turned her head and saw many other wraps and bandages, not just from Ash, but other people in the same hospital. _

_  Red._

_ She had seen so much red lately, all the battles, there was always red there. They were all running together now. She looked down at her leg and traced a finger gently up a long scar running up and down her calf. There was a lot of red in that battle. So much hurt and pain… when would it all end? She shook her head and choked back tears. No, she would be strong for her Ash when he woke up._

__

"I can't believe it!" Joey squirmed in his seat. "We're going into a real battle!"

  "Don't be so excited idiot!" Ruby smacked the back of Joey's head. "It's going to be a lot more serious than what you think!"

  Ash nodded solemnly, but then he remembered that he was supposed to be their age and not so familiar with this kind of stuff, so he forced on a smile and nodded again. "All your pokemon's healed, right?"

  Joey nodded his head vigorously. "Yea! And I explained to them what was going on. They're ready for a fight!"

  "Good," Ash, Ruby and Joey turned to the unexpected voice of the pilot as he continued, "because we're here."

   It was a new air carrier. It could land as nicely as a helicopter, but it was shaped like a jet plane and just as roomy. It was also quieter and faster than the helicopter, it was called nicknamed the hummingbird. The hummingbird landed swiftly and smoothly on the ground behind a still standing building. The pilot turned to the trio. "Here's the deal, they've managed to hold off the rockets so far, we seem to have the upper hand at the moment. Most of the people unable to battle have been evacuated, so it's all out now. Do your best!"  With that, he gave them a nod and sent the on their way into the battle field.

   Misty trudged around in the hallway. She had set Kip down for a nap just a few minutes ago, and now she was exploring the league area to get her mind off of Ash and the battle.

   "MOVE!" Misty barely managed to dodge the oncoming assault of men coming her way. She pressed her back to the wall and looked both ways before continuing her walk.

  "So much for courtesy here…" She mumbled to herself. She looked dully down the long hallway, then looked back to the equally long way back. She heaved a sigh. This was sooo boring. She would rather steal some pokemon and a plane… wait! What was she thinking? She shook her head and began walking again. "If I remember correctly, the bathroom should be this way."

   As she passed on of the many rooms, the door suddenly bust open and off its hinges, hitting the wall across from it, just barely missing Misty. "What is this," She yelled, "Someone trying to sabotage me? If I don't get it on the battlefield, I get it here!"

   "Eh heh... sorry miss…" A small, spikey head popped out of the open doorway and stared at her. He pushed his smoky glasses up to the bridge of his nose and stepped out of the smoking room to get air. He had the typical scientist look – some things never change. His face was stubbly, and his brown eyes were wide with wonder and curiosity. He had brown pants and a white shirt on under a long white lab coat that was covered in soot. "I really am sorry." He smoothed his hand through his brown hair and gave her a sleezy grin. "My name is Greg, what's yours?"

   Misty rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Misty."

  "Oh really, Misty? Can I just show you something I'm working on?"

  "N-" She paused. How bored was she? Not that she wanted to give the sleeze-ball any idea in his mind that she wanted to watch him, but really… how bored was she? If he tried anything, she knew some moves that could put him asleep for a little bit…"Okay." She answered. "Only because I have absolutely nothing better to do but wait."

  "Aw," He grinned, that big, annoying grin. "You don't have to wait for me!"

   Misty wrinkled her nose. "Grow up." Was this really worth it?

  Greg just waved her comment away and continued, "Anyway, I'm working with this GREAT pokemon! It's so strong! And old too! They say its lived past the old Team Rocket war, maybe it can help us out, you know?" His eyes were twinkling with excitement. "It KOed my Kadabra in one hit!

   "They say," He leaned in closer to her as if sharing some long lost secret, "It's been here for eighty years if you know what I mean…"   
    Misty was suddenly interested, "Can I see it?"

    "Sure, sure!" He nodded his head enthusiastically. He was thrilled that she was finally interested. He lead her into the smoking room. No, wait, the smoke was finally clearing. Misty could barely make out anything… wait… her eyes widened and a gasp escaped her lips.

Okay, it's been so long, I thought I'd stop here. It was originally going to have more stuff in it, but I guess I made it more in depth than I thought I would ;; so anyway, should I make the next part 8b, or just 9?

New pokemon:

Kip: A small blue duck with fairy wings and fuzzy three fingered arms. It's a water/flying type. It's not known to be a fighting pokemon, mainly used for zoos and pets, but if they are mad enough, they make a formidable foe.

There was supposed to be another one, but I didn't get to it in this chapter. Anyway Pleeeease review!!

And heeere's the timeline thing:

1)Age 18 3)Age 19-in-a-half 5) Age 25

Ash proposes TR plan revealed/baby announcement Death of Ash and Misty

----1--------2----3----4----(battles)---(battles)--------------------------------------------------------------5-------------

2) Age 19       4) Age 20

           Marriage!            First attack

More to come when more is revealed!

Smile Jesus loves you!

See that button down there? CLICK IT!

                               /

  


	9. We weren't ready!

First I apologize for the big gap between the 'button' line and the actual button in the last chapter, apparently, has taken away the lines and asterisks and the squiggly line ( if it shows) So sorry it seemed a bit weird ;; (Oh yes and it also took my smiley faces away… (sniff))

**Answers to reviews are at the end!**

Second Chances 

**Part 9; "We weren't ready!"**

"Catrinna!" Ash spotted the black haired trainer and ran to her, calling her name. She turned from her current battle to nod.

"We've held them off so far, but we're only evenly matched. With you three here we should be able to gain the advantage point." Joey felt the grin widen on his overly proud face and he opened his mouth, but Catrinna continued before he could continue. "I'll admit you were right, but I will not admit that I was wrong either." She scanned the trio her gaze stopping at Ash. He saw great pride in her eyes and stance, pride that would never let her admit she was wrong. "You really can't blame me for not believing four lunatics you just wander into my office declaring Team Rocket has stirred up a take over after eighty years ago." Ash just simply smiled and nodded his understanding, mercifully saving her pride.

"DUCK!"

All four ducked as a flamethrower narrowly missed their heads. "I suggest," Catrinna stated and she calmly stood up. "that we resume the fight." She watched the stand there. She waited only a few seconds, realizing they weren't taking the hint. "Go! The conversation is over!" The trio shrugged and went their separate ways, all set for battle.

------

Joey frowned, surveying the battlefield, it appeared that they had the advantage, but not enough to get out with most of the people and pokemon. 'well,' he thought, 'might as well start somewhere.' He saw a Polywrath walking around throwing bubble beams at his side. Joey reached to his poke' ball belt and fingered a poke' ball, silently praying in his head.

------

"Great, I'm glad you know what your doing." Ash mumbled to Pixit after she had used a sleep powder on a group of pokemon, among other, numerous attacks Ash hadn't known the small pokemon was capable of doing. Pixit just squealed and made a peace sign. Ash was about to respond, when a large ball of… something narrowly missed his head. "Wow," He stared at the rock the ball had demolished. He turned and saw a small green pokemon with large, angry beady eyes fixed on Ash and Pixit. Long, purple spotted ears were drawn back as it moved from all fours to stand on two feet. Small wings spread from its back were flickering, probably deciding what its first move should be, or waiting for the opponent's first move. Ash glanced over at Pixit who was glaring back at the pokemon. "Are you going to fight it?" Ash asked. Without taking its eyes from the new pokemon, Pixit nodded its head firmly, giving a small "IT!"

Ash felt a small smirk appear. Yes, he missed the old days. "Alright then," He got into the old battle stance. He twisted the black cap he on till it was backwards on his head, then began to order the attack. "Go Pixit! Start out with your Psybeam!"

------

Ruby was tiring quickly, as well as her pokemon. She had underestimated the level of the pokemon, sure, there weren't a lot, but they were all very high-leveled pokemon. Ruby cringed as her Vulpix was thrown to the ground by a powerful body slam. Quickly she raised her poke' ball and shouted, "RETURN!" Now all her attention was on her last remaining pokemon, Trixa. "Alright, we're going to have to retreat." Ruby advised, as much as she hated to admit it. She surveyed the area. Catrinna was mixed up in her own battles, Ash was fighting a more powerful pokemon, and it didn't look as though he wanted to concentrate. She noticed his hat was on backwards, and somehow it rang a bell with her, but she quickly shook it off and headed off in the direction of Joey.

There was a noise. Trixa was calling to her. She turned her head to make sure Trixa was okay, but instead of Trixa behind her, there was a Beedrill.

------

Joey gritted his teeth and kicked a nearby rocket. "They just keep coming!" He shouted at Houndoom who was equally involved with various pokemon. His thoughts briefly wandered off to Ash and Ruby, how were they doing? He had to admit, this battle wasn't anything like he'd pictured. The pokemon were much higher leveled and he wasn't the best at fighting. He barely managed to duck from a clumsy rocket and let his Houndoom deal with him. Joey had just enough time to look over in Ruby's direction. She was heading towards him, her Trixa was following closely behind – no, wait, there wasn't a Trixa anymore. "RUBY!" He cried as she turned around, she was frozen. Joey scrambled up from his position on the ground and raced toward her, with Houndoom, his only pokemon left standing, following closely behind. "Ruby!"

Too late! Beedrill sunk its poisonous tip inside her arm. She screeched, falling to her knees and calling for pokemon. Both Trixa and Houndoom reached there desperately throwing embers and other fire attacks at the Beedrill who, with the combined attacks of the two, fell to the ground in front of Ruby.

"RUBY!" Joey slid to a stop in front on Ruby, on his knees. He quickly reached for her arm, checking the injury. He pulled the stinger out, ignoring her yells and threats to kill him. It was a painful process for the stinger was wedged deep in there, and Ruby was frequently moving, trying to get away from the pain while threatening the same pain on Joey. Finally, the threat was out and Ruby was breathing normally again, she gave him a small, grateful smile as he tore part of his own shirt to wrap up her arm. "It should be okay until we get back." He stood up and reached out a hand to help Ruby up. Ruby accepted it, saying nothing, trying to save her pride as she subtly wiped away tears. "Let's check on Ash." She mumbled.

------

"Stone attack!" Pixit built up as much energy as the little thing had and focused it on this attack. The new pokemon formed a barrier and braised itself against the attack that was to come.

"Ash!" Ash turned and saw Ruby and Joey running towards him. Trixa and Houndoom were limping behind, barely able to keep up. "Ash, it's an Axim! Don't use Pixit!" Ash's concentration was certainly broken then. He turned abruptly to stare open mouthed at Joey. "Axim has an advantage over other Psychic pokemon!" Ash turned to call of pixit, but it was too late. Pixit released its stone attack and it hit Axim straight on. For a brief moment, Ash really thought it was going to work, but no! The barrier suddenly grew larger and stronger, sending the attack right back at Pixit! Poor Pixit, now with all energy spent, was sent down to the ground, totally frozen and out of the fight. Trixa and Vulpix realized the situation, and valiantly stepped in front of their masters, growling, though barely standing. Axim grinned, showing its sharp teeth and sent them down with a lightning punch.

Now that all pokemon were down and out, all that was left were the three humans standing it Axim's way. It stood up to its full 2'11 inches and got ready for a devastating Psychic attack.

There it was, a blinding flash, Axim was sending a powerful psychic there way, and there was no pokemon left to stop it. Someone shouted an attack behind him, but there was no time to think. Ash blindly stepped in front of Joey and Ruby as time slowed. Ruby was still on the ground, wincing at the light and the coursing pain in her arm. Joey was hovering over her, using his own body as a shield, just as Ash stepped in front of the on coming attack.

Wait a second… it wasn't time that was slowing down, it was the attack! There was a voice, "REFELCT!" A barrier formed in front of them just as the slowed attack was about to hit them. Another blinding flash, this time it was going away from them.

As the flash died away, Ash let out a sigh of relief and let his muscles relax. It suddenly registered in his mind who had saved them. He whirled around, mentally preparing a long, long lecture. "What did I tell you about staying at the league?!"

Misty frowned and crossed her arms. "Geez, you could at least be grateful that I saved your life!" She snapped.

Joey moved away from Ruby, turning his head away so she wouldn't see his blush. Ruby still held her arm in pain, but still managed a small smile in Misty's direction. "I'll thank-you, Misty." But Misty was too far-gone, worry and stress had finally taken a toll on her. Oh, how she missed the glorious life of Heaven…

"You ungrateful jerk!" She yelled. "I just saved your lives and you YELL at me?!"

"I'm grateful…" Joey squeaked. Ruby threw a glare and harshly whispered. "You'll wish she let you die if you don't shut-up!" They were spared as Ash continued.

"You deliberately ignored what I said! You came anyway! What did you do, steal a pokemon? I know Kip wouldn't be able to do that!"

"You have some nerve you selfish-"

There was a small blast behind Misty causing her to duck as a bellsprout flew over her head. "(PLEASE!)" A small pokemon flew closer to them and crossed its tiny arms. "(If you don't mind, we have a battle to finish?)" It's eyes rolled, a sign of annoyance before flying off.

Ruby and Joey looked at Misty to wait for her to finish her response, but she was only sending a smirk straight at Ash. Both heads turned to see Ash's reaction. His mouth was dropped open and his eyes wide. Misty carefully stepped up to him and put a finger under his chin, gently pushing up, closing his mouth. "Easy, Ash." She leaned in closer and whispered in his ear, "I'll forgive you this time, but that doesn't mean you can't do some extra nice things for me, got it?"

She grinned playfully and moved her finger to poke his nose before turning around and walking to find something more useful she could be doing. Joey raised an eyebrow and gave Ash a question glance. "What? What is so special about a Togetic?"

Ash grinned sheepishly, not quite sure how to respond. "Misty… used to own a Togetic."

To his surprise, Joey only rolled his eyes and made a 'tsk'ing sound. "Well duh, almost everyone has had a Togepi or Togetic. It's so big like Growlethies and Houndours are as big for pets. Geez, so what?" Joey shook his head again and looked around, examining the battlefield. "Looks like we've pretty much won." He looked down at Ruby. She was clutching her hurt arm and staring up at Joey with complete trust that he would get her out okay. He smiled encouragingly and held out his hand for her good arm. "Now lets go get you some medical help, shall we?"

(A few hours ago)

_"WAAAA?!" Both human and pokemon had similar reactions once they found their voice. Misty's mouth was dangling dangerously close to the ground whilst Togetic was blinking rapidly, trying to digest why its old master was here – better yet, how. Greg's eyebrows shot up as he whipped out a paper and pen quickly scribbling some notes about Togetic's reaction. _

_"How…" Misty finally picked up her jaw, and set it back in place. She slowly made her way through the debris and stopped right in front of her pokemon, her baby. "You're still here?" She whispered, somehow having enough sense to speak low enough so the nosey scientist wouldn't catch on. _

_Togetic small mouth opened to show it's shiny white teeth as it nodded happily. Crying out its name with happiness, Togetic did a gentle head butt into her chest._ "MOMMY!" _It sent the telepathic message, the voice just dripping with happy excitement._ "How are you here?"

_Misty pulled her pokemon out from the hug and smiled while explaining, "Ash and I are on a mission, care to help?" Togetic screeched with excitement. Misty, talking that as a distinct 'YES!' turned to Greg, Togetic still in her arms. "I need to go help the people fighting the rockets. You said Togetic is so strong, won't you let me take it with me to help fight?" She gave her best, hopeful puppy face. Hesitantly, Greg nodded his head, and before he could change his mind, Misty was out of the room, running for a ride there._

-------

"So what now?" Misty asked, looking up from her position on the floor. She was laying on her stomach, playing with Togetic and Kip. Togetic had apparently taken a great liking to Kip and was teaching it the art of being a baby pokemon (In which Togetic was secretly giving Kip some pointers on how to be babied and pampered as much as possible). Ash was sitting on the bed smiling at them, just enjoying the scene. For a while, his thoughts had departed off to before everything got so hectic…

(Flashback)

"What now?" Misty repeated her question; she was now giving her full attention to Ash who had finally just blinked out of his memory. "What's going to happen next?"

"There's supposed to be a meeting." Ash answered. "A meeting of all gym leaders and such to decide what they're going to do. Hopefully, it won't take as long as the other war did." _5 1/2 years… _

"What are we going to do?"

"We get to be there because we were the ones who heard about it first."

Misty felt a grin spread to her face. "Just like old time, huh?"

Ash rolled his eyes. "Not quite… For one thing, there's many new pokemon, I'm not in charge and…" Ash paused, looking at Misty then shrugged. Misty cocked her head.

"And…?" She urged.

"And…" Ash sighed, he started it, might as well finish it. "Since you're not pregnant, you're not as moody – Ow! HEY! You wanted to know!"

-------

Joel groaned deeply, throwing his head back. "You LOST the egg?" He was steadily sliding down the chair with his head draped across the back. He rubbed his face with his hands. "How could you LOSE the dumb egg?!"

"Oh shut-up!" Rebecca scowled. She crossed her arms and sank deeper in her chair. "It was four against one, not to mention they had a Pixit!"

"So? The boss is SO going to kill us!" Tyler moaned in his hands. All three were sitting outside their boss's headquarters, waiting to give their report. Apparently, it had been ruled that the portable vid phones where no longer safe – especially since their latest failure and the police were aware of their planes, but the rockets didn't care. Vid phone was a much easier way to give bad news, you know?

"You mean they're going to kill me!" Joel corrected. "I'm the leader, I'm going to get the blame for this."

Rebecca brightened up. "Really? You mean I'm off the hook?" She ducked as a flying shoe was thrown at her head.

-------

"Ash," Misty asked cautiously. "Do you know where we're going?" Misty carefully fell in step with Ash and studied him. He was very focused on his steps, occasionally looking up and around, then looking over at Misty giving her a nervous grin. "Ash," misty tried again after the seventh grin. "You DO know how to get to the meeting room, right?"

"O-of course, Misty." Ash gave her another grin –eighth-.

"Oh good," Misty was loosing site of her patience. "Where are we?"

'We're in the league building."

"Thank-you, captain obvious, WHERE in the league building are we?" Ash opened his mouth to answer, but Misty corrected herself as she stopped walking to stare at Ash. "And don't say hallway either."

"Okay then, I won't." Ash continued his journey, leaving misty behind, not so calmly waiting for and answer. Misty frowned as he disappeared out of site. She leaned back against the nearest walk and looked at little Kip in her arms. "He'll be back." She mumbled to it.

Sure enough, Ash appeared, still heading in the same direction he was moment ago. "Ash," Misty calmly stated, "You've gone around in a circle, why don't we just stop and ask for directions?"

Ash shook his head. "No! I'm good."

Misty, now fed up, felt her head grown abnormally large. "ASH! ADMIT YOU GOT LOST IN YOUR OWN LEAGUE BUILDING!"

Ash's eyes widened slightly and he quickly clamped a hand over her mouth. "Hush! Okay, fine, I'm l-l-.." Ash stopped, repeating it in his head, than tried again, "I'm l-loooooo-"

"Oh I give up. Don't hurt yourself." Misty turned to passerby, he seemed to have a destination, but nothing too immediate, this would take a while. "Excuse me," Misty started, she softly tapped the man on his shoulder. "Could you please help me, us" she glanced back at Ash, "Find the meeting room?" She could see Ash cross his arms and mumble incoherent words under his breath. The man smiled, probably grateful to have something else to do. He tucked the pencil he was holding behind his ear, readjusted his tie hanging from the fancy business suite and pushed his wire-rimmed glasses up on his face.

"I'd be glad to! This way." He nodded his head in the direction he was already heading, a motion for Ash and Misty to follow.

"Thank-you so much! Ash has such a bad sense of direction!" The man briefly let an eyebrow raise at the name, but shrugged it off and returned to his leading.

"It's no problem, really. I'm Toby, and I assume you're the new people the rumors have been talking about?"

"Rumors?" Misty asked, carefully.

"Well, yea, there are these four trainers who discovered Team Rockets' plans, and two of them looked like THE Ash and misty, and here you are." Toby grinned slightly then raised his arms to stretch. "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter, really, Ash and Misty are dead, it would be impossible for you to be them. Maybe some really freaky coincidence, or maybe your related?" He waited for a short time before realizing they weren't going to say anything, so he continued talking. "Oh, I don't really think it matters anyway. You are who you are, right? I suppose it would get rather annoying when people are always asking you if you're related to the Ash and Misty, huh?"

"Excuse me," Ash decided to break in, his first time since almost admitting he was lost, "What's that?" Toby stopped to see Ash pointing to a dust bunny – a LARGE dust bunny, and it was moving. Toby found himself raising his eyebrow again. "That's a Dosti. They're usually not fighting pokemon, people use them to clean. Didn't you ever have one?"

"Ehm, sorry," Misty stuttered, "They're not very popular where we are…" Toby shrugged.

"Anyway, it's a cleaning pokemon, some people use it to battle since its part water, but its not strong." He stopped abruptly in front of a door. "Oh, here we are. Have fun!" He waved to them as he walked away, once again taking his pencil from his ear and taping it against his hand.

"Well, that was odd." Ash commented.

"Oh. Hush, and least he helped us get here! Now lets go."

---------

"… attack or –" Catrinna, and everyone else in that room for that matter, turned their head to stare at the newcomers. "So good of you to join us, Ash, Misty. Please have a seat." Ash and Misty were feeling increasingly uncomfortable as they quietly made their way to the two empty seats reserved for them beside Joey and Ruby. "Since all of you are now here." Catrinna continued, still staring at the four with a sneer, just waiting to come out, "Why don't you explain what you know."

They looked at each other, not quite sure how to start, then one by one, they all told their story in turn.

------((()))------

_"So what do we do now, Master Ketchum?"_

_Ash sighed and leaned back in his chair. His eyes had numerous bags under them, showing his worry about the growing war that was upon them. He rubbed them gently before watching the gym leaders and elite members carefully. "My guess," He said slowly, "Is to wait for the Rockets next move." _

_"Is that such a good idea?" A new gym leader, Jonathan by name, asked, he was brash and new to this game, Ash could tell._

_"How so?" Ash calmly asked. _

_"Why wait for the rockets to attack us? They could create much devastation if they get to us before we can get to them!"_

_Ash was silent. He thought about it, let the others think about it, then spoke up himself. "You're right, however, were do we begin? Nobody knows where this rocket leader is hidden." His eyes glanced over the newest, but old edition to the member. "Right? So why lash out when we don't even know where to begin?"_

_Jonathan made a noise in the back of his throat as he stood up, his seat rolling back. "So we're just going to sit here while more cities get taken under control? Why don't we just attack them and take it back? My city is in danger of going under siege, and we just sit here? Or we could at least go help the others!" He glanced around at the members present, some were missing due to the fact that their city was taken over by Team Rocket. "How can you call yourselves members of this elite when we're not even fighting for our land? Huh? And what about Johto? The orange islands? It's already been a year-in-a-half! Haven't they sent word that they're going to help us? Or are they sitting back doing nothing as well?" _

_Ash was about to respond, but Lt. Surge, now older, his gray hairs coming through the blonde, he had a few wrinkles, but it all came with more wisdom. He didn't stand up. He only looked at Ash, then up at Jonathan the brash young blue haired 20-year-old. "They were better prepared then we were!" He simply stated. That one statement sent chills through everyone in the room. Jonathan bared his fists. He refused to admit that the good side wasn't prepared for the evil. Lt. Surge continued. "You know I'm a war man, I hate to admit that we weren't ready, but we weren't! Team Rocket waited until we were nice and cozy in our world thinking everything was okay and team rocket was nothing but a laugh! Well ha, ha, joke is on us!" He folded his arms and leaned back. "They were better prepared then us, and we can't just go and attack them. All we can do for now is defend against them as best as we can and protect the cities we have. Some point in time they'll have to stretch themselves out enough and then we'll fight when they're numbers are spread out."_

_Ash cleared his throat, showing that he was going to intervene. "As for Orange islands, Johto and Houen, I haven't heard from them yet. Now," Once again, Ash could just feel that bags increase under his eyes. He could tell everyone was feeling the same. "I suggest we all rest. Tomorrow I want all of you to go back to your cities and protect them. If you have any trouble with rockets, I want you to send your fastest pokemon to whoever is closest to get help. Okay?" Everyone nodded. "Good. Have fun everyone." Ash smiled slightly and stood up, signaling the end of the meeting. Slowly, everyone got to their feet (who weren't already standing) and headed out the door, eager to get to bed. Brock, ,faithful leader of the Pewter gym, stayed behind. _

_"Hey, man." Brock grinned and slapped Ash on the back. "How's the kid?"_

_Ash grinned at the thought of his baby. Oh, she's great. She's saying a few words. She turned a year old last month. She's getting really big too, wish you could see her."_

_"Maybe I will, my man!" Brock mimicked Ash's grin. He was happy that Ash could still smile at these times. It almost seemed like everything would be okay when he smiled like that. His smile was always contagious. "What's she doing now?" _

_"Misty's watching her at the house." Brock's grin faded as Ash's did._

_"How's Misty doing?"_

_"She's… okay I guess." Ash looked out the window, watching the trees blow in the wind. "She still has nightmares about the recent battles and I know she's really worried about me. I think all this is taking its toll worse on her, you know?" Brock was grim. He knew Misty's sanity was only held together by Ash and her baby's company. Brock listened as Ash continued. "You know you really can't blame her. She saw things she shouldn't see, Cerulean was taken by Team Rocket and we haven't heard from her sisters. Besides, Misty never liked fighting." He chuckled. "Except with you and me of course." Brock nodded his agreement and Ash suddenly sobered even more – It was freaking Brock out. "We have to end this soon." Ash whispered, more to himself than to Brock. "We have to end this soon." _

_-----((()))-----_

"So what's the plan?" Caleb, the Saffron gym leader, asked. Catrinna looked around. She held herself with a certain sense of pride that Ash understood, but he could also tell the uncertainty in them.

"I'm thinking that we should wait for Team Rocket. We don't know what they're planning so we should-"

"Attack." All eyes turned to Ash's - the black haired boy who looked remarkably like the famous Ash Ketchum.

"Attack?" Catrinna frowned. She didn't like being interrupted at all.

"Attack." Ash confirmed. "We need to attack before they get the upper hand. Attack while they're still getting ready to attack. We need to be ready before them."

"I disagree. What if they are prepared?" Stacey of Cinnabar Island commented.

"Then we attack them anyway." Anthony from Viridian answered.

"I'm with they pretty red head and the black haired one too." A teenager, by the name of "Nemo" with blonde hair winked at both Misty and Ruby. Ruby blushed slightly causing Joey to frown and send an unintentional glare in his direction. Misty was blushing for a different reason. She leaned over and whispered in ash's ear. "He just hit on his great, great, great aunt!" Ash frowned deeply, staring hard at the boy. "Nemo" Waterflower (note1) or not, no one hits on his wife, er, girlfriend.

"OKAY!" Catrinna stood up, not liking the idea that she was loosing control of her meeting. "Let's take a vote. All for waiting raise your hand."

Four out of thirteen present raised their hand. "All for attacking now…" the other nine raised their hands. "Fine." Catrinna nodded her consent. "As soon as possible, tomorrow we take all out strongest pokemon and trainers and attack the rocket base."

----

(note1) I know the name Waterflower may seem weird for it to last this long when all the kids were girls, but I figure that Daisy, Lilly and Violet all seemed like girls who would make their husband change their name since they're so well known. Okay? Didn't want you to think they married some taboo style or something.

Okay! Everyone who got Togetic right, stretch out your arm, then slap your hand to you forehead --- you got a gold star!

sniffs I'm getting more reviews!

Spiraea kozak: Sorry, no Pikachu, you were close though! I have something planned in that area. I figured Togetic is psychic and more likely to last longer, you know? Nice try though, thanks for the review!

Moezy-chan: My fighting scenes are good? Well now, I greatly 'precitate that! Mwha, I feel special now, inspired! Goes out to conquer the world Thanks a bunches for the review!

Gladdecease: Congrats to you! It was Togetic! Ah… is that a happy enough for ya? Anyway, thanks a bunches for the reviews!

Amber Myst: I did make it slightly painfully obvious, huh? I was actually thinking, maybe I could use Mew, but then I don't know where'd I fit Togetic in anywhere. Oh, but I must keep the suspense! If I didn't, you wouldn't want to come back to see the answer, now would you?

The Critic: Huggles earth globe Jesus loves EVWEONE! Ah… you too I wish there were more Christians too, but hey, that's what we're here for, ne? 4/5? Aw, you make me feel special! You're absolutely right about the legendaries hm… that would be a good plothole helper, huh? Thanks!

Lizzie: Glad you like! Hope you liked this chapter too!

Betty: Aw, glad you like it too! Thanks for the review! (I made a rhyme!)

Etherelemental: Thanks once again for you're review! Of course it's a cliffhanger, if it wasn't, what would drag all you wonderful reviewers back here? Made the Togetic thing a bit obvious huh? Heh… was never good at subtleness… Anyway, hope you liked this chapter too!

Vash: Nice try, Thanks for the review, I hope you surprised!

Swampthing: You got it… although you had a multiple choice, but that's okay. I'm glad you like the story! Hope this chapter meets up to your expectations, thanks for reviewing!

Neogirl7900: Aww, you think it has potential? Aw, thank you much! Glad you like and thanks for reviewing! Don't worry, I will finish it, it may just take a while ;

MWHA! Most reviews I've gotten, this whole story, many thanks!

New pokemon:

Axim: Small, green pokemon with very large beady eyeballs. Its ears are long and sticking on the side of its head. Various purple dots cover the small body. It stands on all fours unless performing an attack as a pre-warning. Aside from the four legs used to hold it up, it has an extra set of arms between the four legs, these are used the most. It has a long tail and a tiny wing span allowing it to fly no more than seven feet in the air and not very fast. A psychic type, but has the rare ability to learn many other kinds.

Dosti: A mop pokemon looks like… a dust ball/mop without the handle and eyes. It really isn't used for battles, mainly as a maid or just for show. No one knows what would happen if you where to cut all its fuzz/hair off. A normal/water pokemon.

A couple things I thought I should point out and remind you of, the war Ash and Misty were in took five in a half years vs. present war which will take a few weeks … tops. Ash and Misty are here to make sure it doesn't last as long as theirs did and to make sure it goes smoothly, got it? Good. No timeline for now, didn't see the need since there wasn't really any major new development. Hope you liked!

SMILE JESUS LOVES YOU!

(Once again, I apologize if the asterisks and squiggle lines don't show again)


	10. Pride

Hullo again everyone! Hopefully this wait wasn't quite as long and I hope you like this chapter.

By the way, there is some, not quite random, but kind of oddly placed flashback in there. I figured, I've been getting away from the mushy AAML goodness, so I thought I'd add a quick fun one to lighten the mood before it all gets darker. So… just thought I'd tell you that.+

Sorry it took so long! There's two scenes I was sooo stuck on! If you want to know, just read the end notes I guess. Here's the responses to the reviews:

Reviews:

Gladdecease: Lol, I was going to elaborate on Ash's reaction, but I didn't want to dramatisize it too much, you know? I'm glad you got it! There's nothing major hidden in everything, go ahead and e-mail me what you think the plot is and I'll tell you if you're right or not Yea, I thought "Nemo" was clever. I wanted it to be a guy, but I couldn't think of any guy names relating to water or a flower! So I had to go with a nickname. Rather clever, you think? Lol, too bad I can't take credit for the name. (Although, I think there was a captain Nemo before there was a fish, anyone know?)

WeridDutchGuy/swampthing: Cool name! I like. Hm… I suppose they could be here to get Ruby and Joey together, yes, that would be a side effect, ne? But that wasn't the MAIN reason they were sent, but it is part of it I suppose Anyway, congrats on your new account! Are you going to write stories?

Joshua Deming: A new reviewer! (Huggles) Glad you liked it! Of COURSE Ash and Misty are together! The creators did that for us deep thinkers (my lit teacher would laugh at that) P Lol, hey, maybe that wasn't the original idea, but it certainly should be now! Anyway, as for another pokemon, he might get a loner from the league or something, he doesn't really have time to go out and get something, maybe it'll be a Pikachu, But not THE Pikachu, I have plans that I can't tell you! HA HA Haaaaaa… sorry. Anyway… Psyduck! Yes! I forgot about Psyduck! Hmmm… where to plug Psyduck in… AH-HA! I got it! Psyduck will be in here eventually! (No, really! I have an idea!) Thanks for the review!

IGAF: Aww, I'm talented? (Huggles) Thanks a bundle! Yes, I'm a Christian, it's nice to see Christians who are very nice reviewers (Insert smiley face that doesn't show up anymore) Glad you like it, and hope you enjoy this chapter too! Thanks for reviewing!

Amber Myst: MWHAAA! You're right, I will get to it, in fact, it's the last chapter (yes, I actually have the last chapter written long before the rest of the story. Ha ha…) lol, yes, I thought the jealous thing was cute, I may add some in this chapter…. Thank you sooo much for your faithful reviews!

Etherelemental: That's a problem? Hm, well, I know this one was a while, but if it still doesn't feel like a while, then good for you! I've never actually read the manga, so I wouldn't know the personality, besides, who wants the name "Yellow"? Of course, I can make someone look like that if you want. Hm… close? Yes, chapter wise, probably another six months or so when you go by updating, although, after this, I only have one more chapter to go, then the last one which is already written. YAY! I'm excited! Thanks for reviewing!

Neogirl7900: Yea… I did notice the paragraph issue, I would like to point out that it's not entirely my fault, has gotten rid of my spacer things (i.e. asterisks and the squiggly lines), so hopefully this will be better now. I feel flattered that you liked my stories especially! I try to make them different, but somehow they do end up the same, I guess that happens when you have the common theme of AAML in them? I'm sorry they're out of character, I do usually try to keep them in character, but then they did get older and they can't stay the same through all that's happened to them, you know? I tried to add some scenes from when they were younger, however there's also the changed Ash and Misty in there too, so please bear with the slight un-characterness ) (Blushes) Hee hee… thanks. I'm glad you think so to! Why swear unnecessarily when you can just add funky words like 'curse you, you big cheeseball head!' Okay… so most people don't say that, but you get the idea. I'm glad you appreciate it, I do try to keep in clean. Thanks a bunch for your reviews! Hope you like this chapter.

Second Chances 

**.:Part 10; Pride:.**

_"Ash! You're such an idiot!" It was dark out. Night had fallen just an hour ago. They were traveling in the woods, much longer than they should have been, and Misty wasn't too thrilled. She stood in front of Ash with her hands on her hips. Her hair was up in it's side ponytail but her usual outfit had changed somewhat over the years. Her sleeveless yellow top had changed into a cerulean blue long sleeved shirt with her gym logo on the front and khaki jeans. Her outfit was unusually dirty and desperately needed to be washed. "Why didn't you turn when I said to? I'm tired and I want to rest in a bed, eat fine foods, not worry about bugs!"_

_"Aw, come on Misty," Ash held his hands up defensively. "The map didn't say to turn, so I didn't."_

_"Ash! Where did you get this stupid map?"_

_"From these two merchants. They were kind of weird though, one was a guy who sounded like a girl, and the other was a red-head, she reminded me of you." He paused and thought about the merchants even more. Something was very odd about them; he just couldn't put his finer on it. " Their pokemon was pretty weird too…"_

_"ASH! Never except anything from strangers! You shouldn't have been so cheap! Why couldn't you just get it from the store?"_

_"Chill out Misty. It's okay."_

_"OKAY! Brock had to leave early to get his pokemon to the pokemon center! We should've been there a while ago to meet him! He's going to be worried about us!"_

_"Not really, he knows my ability to get lost" Ash argued, "Besides, he's probably too absorbed with nurse joy to notice." _

_Misty sighed. He was right about that, but still, she wasn't happy about being lost. "Whatever Ash Ketchum. I'm going to look for firewood." With that said, she turned to the nearest break in the trees and stomped off to let off some steam while Ash and Pikachu set up camp._

_"I can't believe that idiot! Why does he have to be so—" _

Snap-

_Misty looked down at her feet. The ground was strangely unstable. She frowned and slowly backed away, but that little bit of movement caused the ground to give way to reveal a large hole. Before she could think of anything else, the first thing she did was screech, but as she felt herself getting deeper, a hand reached out and grabbed her arm, saving her before she fell to the bottom of the hole. The hand dragged and pulled her up out of the hole until her butt was firmly planted on the ground. Once safe, she tried to calm her breathing down as she muttered her thanks. "Thanks, Ash. Why were you following me, I guess it was a good thing, but-" Misty look up. That wasn't Ash. "Um…"_

_There was a boy standing over her who looked to be about her age (15). He had the classic blonde hair and intense baby blue eyes. His lips were curved upward to form a smirk on his handsome face as he knelt down to her level. "My name's Caleb, not Ash, and yours is…?"_

_"M-Misty." She stuttered. _

_"Misty." He repeated. "It's nice to meet you. It's very odd to have a random hole in the ground like that, I wonder what that's from." He smiled at her. "However, it's just as odd to have a pretty girl like you wandering around in the woods like this all by yourself. Do you need help? Should I escort you back to the city?"_

_For a moment, Misty forgot all thoughts when the word 'city' was mentioned. "Oh, that would be great!" Then she remembered, "Oh, wait, I have someone else I'm traveling with. Can he come to?" Caleb winced he she mentioned 'he', but he slowly nodded his head just as footsteps were heard rapidly approaching and a familiar voice calling Misty's name. _

_"MIIIIISTYYYYY!"_

_"PIKACHUPI!"_

_"I'm over here!" Misty called, waving her arms about. She moved to push herself off the ground, but before she could fully push herself, Caleb put of his hand to help her up. Misty gave him a gratefully smile and accepted his kind offer. "Thanks," She blushed. This was the time that Ash chose to appear from the bushes. He saw Misty's hand held gently in Caleb's, with a blush very evident on Misty's cheeks. Ash frowned and cleared his throat. Misty and Caleb both pulled away from each other, an instant reaction, but the damage was done and Misty scolded herself for being ashamed. Ash wasn't her boyfriend after all! _

_"I just came to see if you were okay." Ash explained. "I heard your scream."_

_"Pika!" Pikachu confirmed as he stepped closer and closer to Caleb, sniffing his feet. _

_"Thanks, Ash." Misty smiled, she really was grateful Ash was showing some concern. "Oh," She turned to Caleb. "Caleb, this is Ash, Ash, this is Caleb." Both boys nodded their greeting, not bothering to make the greeting anymore civil than that. They stared into each other's eyes, trying to silently intimidate the other, even if it was unknowingly. Misty chuckled nervously, sensing the tension. "Ash," She tried to break the unnerving silence, "Caleb knows the way to the city. He was going to take us there."_

_"I don't need him to show us." Ash said quickly. He crossed his arms, not bothering to hide his dislike. _

_"You don't have to come." Caleb was equally thrilled. _

_"Ash," Misty whined, "Please, he can get us there tonight." Ash turned to Misty, his normally smiling face was frowning, his eyes dead serious. _

_"Misty, I don't want to follow this guy. I don't like him."_

_"Oh Ash," misty scolded, "You're just upset he was the hero for once and not you!" Ash was silent. Was he? Was that why he was upset? This guy was obviously hitting on her, and was he staring at her just now? Oh, no. He wasn't letting Misty out of his sight. _

_"I don't care." Ash still kept his stance. Caleb growled deep in his throat. He could see Misty was going to give in to Ash. No, he wasn't going to give up without a fight! _

_"Come on, Misty," He encouraged, "I'll get you to the city. I promise I wont get you lost. We'll be there in an hour and then I'll buy you dinner."_

_"I'M making dinner," Ash growled, his hands were now forming fists at his side. "And she's staying with you! I'm not letting her wander around with a creep like you!"_

_"At least I'm not a shrimpy, freak, loser!"_

_There was a silence. Ash was brimming with anger. Pikachu was beside him, it's cheeks crackling with energy just waiting to be let loose. However, Misty was the first one to react. Her head was bent down and she slowly walked over to Caleb. His face was smug, he'd really annoyed Ash now. Will Misty finally go with him? _

_Misty finally stopped in front of him. Caleb's face still retained his grin, but before he could comment, Misty slapped the grin right from his face. The slap echoed through the forest, startling nearby pokemon, and people. Ash was off to the side, still angry, but more shocked than anything. "Misty?" He ventured. _

_"Nobody insults Ash but me." She seethed. She was glaring up at him, her cerulean eyes piercing through his blue ones. Caleb's hand went up to touch his sensitive cheek. To add insult to injury and to finish off her moves, Misty added a good mallet bashing for effect. Once that was done, she turned on her heel and marched back to Ash. "Let's go back to camp." Ash was quick to agree, happy to leave the jerk behind them, and there was another strange, happy feeling inside him that he couldn't explain … yet._

_

* * *

_

_Bonk_

_Bonk_

_Bonk_

"Joey"

_Bonk_

_"_Joey will you stop?"

_Bonk_

"JOEY!"

_Bonk_

"JOEY DON'T MAKE ME TAKE THAT BALL AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR NOSE!"

_…_

"Thank-you."

_Bonk_

"THAT'S IT!" Ruby threw down the book she was so calmly trying to read and stomped over to Joey. Joey grabbed his favorite little red bouncy ball and fled out the door that he was hitting the ball against – right into Catrinna. "Oof!" Joey bounced to the floor while Catrinna regained her balance after being shoved so rudely. She sighed as she glared down at Joey as though her were a little termite just begging to be squashed. "Watch where you're going."

"Me?" Joey frowned, scrambling to his feet. He stood tall; trying to regain what dignity he had left. "You're the one prowling around my area like you own the place!"

"I DO own the place, idiot!"

Joey scowled. Okay, he walked right into that one. He folded his arms and did the only thing he could come up with – he stuck his tongue out at her. "Yea, well just wait till I'm trained! I'll beat you anytime!"

Catrinna rolled her dark eyes and shifted her weight so that it rested on one leg, and with her hands on her hips she impatiently asked, "Where's Ash?"

Joey's scowl deepened and he leaned against the door, an unconscious sign of rebellion. "Why do you want him? I can answer any questions you want!"

"This isn't about question, moron. Now where is he?"

"I-"

"Jo-o-o-o-ey!" Ruby yanked open the door, sending Joey falling backwards beside her. She blinked with surprise, just staring at him on the floor. Joey slowing sat up rubbing his butt. Ruby, realizing she was going to get yelled at, quickly shifted the blame, "What were you doing out here, idiot?"

"Me? You're the one who made me fall on the floor. What is this, pick on Joey day?" Joey was now getting to his feet, still rubbing his sore butt.

"You're the genius who was leaning on the door! I heard you talking. I wanted to make sure you hadn't officially lost it. Speaking of which," She finally turned to acknowledge the now scowling Catrinna (Who was completely miffed that someone who DARE ignore her, THE pokemon master). "Oh, hello. What do you want?"

Catrinna cleared her throat. "I want to see Ash."

"Ash?" Ruby thought a minute, trying to recall something Misty had mentioned to her just an hour before, "He's in downstairs in the cafeteria with Misty."

"WHAT!" Catrinna raged. "You mean I came all the way up here wasting my time with you losers and you don't have the decency to tell me he's not even here!"

Joey leaned in closer. "We're not losers! Why don't you talk to us instead of Ash! We're just as good as he is!" Ruby nodded her two cents, leaning in as well. Catrinna only leaned in farther to emphasize her point.

"Why would I want to talk to losers like you?"

"We're not losers!" Joey shouted.

"Brilliant comeback." Ruby rolled her eyes at Joey then turned to Catrinna. "We're not the losers miss 'high-and-mighty'." Ruby leaned in even farther, pulled her bottom eyelash down and stuck her tongue out. Catrinna also leaned in, almost nose-to-nose with Ruby sticking her tongue out and pulling on her bottom eyelash.

"I'd rather be high and mighty than losers!" It suddenly occurred to Catrinna that people were beginning to stare. It also occurred to her that SHE was the pokemon master. SHE was supposed to be mature, and SHE was sticking her tongue out at them losers. Once she stood up and resumed her high poise, Ruby and Joey also noticed the staring. They also immediately stood straight up, each looking in opposite directions. "Look," Catrinna sneered. "I'm going to speak with Ash. I'll see you tonight." That said, she turned heel and headed towards the cafeteria, ignoring the redness in her cheeks, and the sudden curving upward of her lips. _After all_, she thought, _I'm still allowed to be childish once in a while_.

* * *

"Alright, misty, we're about to go into another battle, most likely full of memories and blood and guts, you think you're ready for this?" Ash raised an eyebrow and Misty, calmly sipping at the coffee he ordered. 

"I'll be okay, Ash." She whispered quietly. She stared into her cup of hot chocolate. She didn't want to relive any of it, but for the sake of others not living what they had to, she would. She raised her eyes to look at Ash. "What about you?"

Ash shrugged. "Feels just like old times." Ash grinned and did a quick peace sign before returning to his coffee.

"Is that good or bad?" Ash shrugged. He slurped his coffee, rather loudly, hoping to get a reaction out of Misty. Nothing. He sighed and placed the coffee cup down onto the saucer and reached across the tiny table to take Misty's hands in his own.

"I'm worried about you. Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine." Misty smiled, assuring Ash, and herself. "We were sent on this mission for a reason, and so we have to do it."

"Misty," Ash sighed and pulled away. He looked out the large window showing the busy outside. "Do you ever wonder if God knew what he was doing when he sent us on this mission? Why would he make us go through this again?"

"Because we know what we're doing." Misty was confident in her answer, and that made Ash feel better. "He knew that the others would be rash, and because of the rashness the battle would last longer than needed, more lives would be affected and less bloodshed."

"You're right." Ash sighed. "I just wish it wasn't always us."

"Anyway," Misty changed the subject, her mood changing as well "You know what we haven't done in a while?" a smile made its way onto her face as she leaned in, her eyes became half lidded and the smile became more seductive as she leaned in farther, waiting for Ash to catch the hint. Ash's eyes lit up as her smile slowly seeped onto his face, she waited for him to catch on…

"A Pokemon battle!" Misty felt herself collapse on the table, her hot chocolate spilling, but she took no notice. The smile fell as quickly as it had appeared on her face. Ash blinked, not quite sure what he had done wrong. They hadn't battled in a while, right? What was wrong? He leaned back into his chair with fear as Misty rose from her collapsed position. Flames her flickering from her eyes and her hands were balled into fists at her side. "ASH KETCH-"

"ASH!" Misty shifted her glare from Ash to the evil person who had interrupted her scolding. Ash sighed with relief. "I want to talk to you." Catrinna stormed up to Ash, ignoring Misty's full glare following her every move.

"About what?" He asked calmly. At the moment, nothing was more intimidating than Misty, he found himself silently thanking Catrinna for her timing.

"You challenged my authority in front of the whole meeting, that's what!" She was fuming.

"Oh, that." Ash rolled his eyes. _I hope I wasn't this controlling when I was young…_

"THAT!" Catrinna shrieked, she whirled around to return Misty's constant glare on her back. "And you, stop glaring at me!" Misty's eye twitched, but nothing changed, so Catrinna decided it wasn't worth it and turned back to Ash. "Yes, THAT." She took a deep breath and calmed herself down. "Remember, I'm the one in charge here, not you. I'm the pokemon master for a reason. If you challenge me again, I'll be forced to show you my position in a pokemon battle." Ash's face lit up as Misty's darkened.

"Really?" He shook his head, forcing himself to stay focused. "Right, I had to, it was the truth, I was just trying to help you along."

"I don't need help!" She seethed. How DARE he! SHE was the one who worked this hard to get to the top! Who was he to tell HER what to do and see if SHE needed help. "Fine," her eyebrows drew together. "This will be good practice anyway." She stood up straight and folded her arms across her chest. "I challenge you to a pokemon battle."

"Alright," _YES_! "But I only have one pokemon."

"We'll both be using one pokemon that is randomly chosen for us. Now, meet me in my personal arena in fifteen minutes and –"

"Wait." Both eyes turned to the speaker.

"Misty," Ash whined, "I know you're mad at me, but please let me battle!"

"I want to battle you." Misty stepped up to Catrinna. Her glare was more challenging than threatening this time.

"You?" Catrinna frowned. "I don't really care, as long as I battle one of you."

"Good, because I'm going to but those flames out on you're shirt!" Misty smirked. Catrinna growled, her composure forgotten. Ash sighed and rolled his eyes. Oh yes, he was staying out of this one. This, was a true cat fight.

"We'll see who wipes whose flames out, carrot top!" Misty's eye twitched and she leaned closer, her hands reaching back for her old friend.

"Carrot top! Why, you old crow!"

"LADIES!" Ash laughed nervously, quickly stepping between them. "Let's go to the arena shall we?"

"fine"

"fine."

Both girls stuck up their noses at each other and turned towards the door, ignoring the others' presence. "This is going to be an interesting battle." Ash muttered and quietly followed them.

* * *

"This is a one on one battle, both pokemon are randomly chosen, no items allowed." They made it to the arena without too much damage. Misty was on one side of the field, pokeball in hand. Catrinna was in the other, picking a pokeball from a rack, and then assuming battle position. Ash was on the sidelines, he offered to be the referee, but apparently Catrinna didn't quite trust him enough, so he was stuck as the cheerleader for Misty. 

"I'll start," Catrinna let a sly grin. Whether it was her pokemon or not, she sure knew about all the pokemon here, she was sure to have the advantage. "Pokeball, GO!" The familiar red light appeared in the arena and revealed and new pokemon that Ash and Misty had never seen before. Look like a cross between an Umbreon and a Persian. It was all black with random purple shapes on it's fur. It had a catlike body and it had a yellow moon on its forehead that began to glow.

"What pokemon is that?" Ash whispered to himself.

"It's a Crescent." Ash jumped at the sudden voice behind him.

"WAAA!" It was Joey and Rose, both giving him odd stares. "Don't do that! How'd you know I was here?"

Joey rolled his eyes. "News gets around fast." It was then Ash noticed the growing crowd behind him.

"I guess battles are big around here?"

"Why does Misty get to battle her?" Joey pouted, "I wanted to fight her!"

"Oh, grow up." Ruby smacked him from behind the head, "GO MISTY!" She cheered.

Misty narrowed her eyes. She was in trouble. She didn't know any of this pokemon's moves, what type it was, or if there were even any new attacks. "Well," she mumbled, "It could be worse, I could have a new pokemon I don't know anything about and look like a total idiot, THAT would be bad." She looked at the pokeball in her hands. "Well, here goes." She threw it. "GO POKE'BALL!"

"VAP!" Misty almost laughed with glee. Her specialty! Water pokemon! "You're in trouble now!" Misty smirked over to Catrinna's direction. She only smiled. "Don't be so cocky yet. There's no advantages, so that just means it'll be an even bigger win for me."

"Don't underestimate me!" Misty warned. Inside she was thrilled to be battling again. '_So this is why Ash wanted to battle so badly'_

"BEGIN!" Came the announcer's voice. Neither pokemon trainers paid any attention to their growing crowd.

"Start us off, Vaporeon," Misty shouted her orders, "Use a water gun!" Water poured from Vaporeons mouth straight at Crescent.

"Agility!" Catrinna commanded. Crescent narrowly avoided the water surge. "Good, now use Shadow ball!" Crescent came to a halt and opened its mouth, drawing in hair as a big ball of blackness formed, then once Crescent decided it was large enough, it went straight towards Vaporeon. Vaporeon, who was peeved in the first place that this cat dodged it's water attack, also made sure to dodge this shadowball, barely of course, but it managed it with a quick attack that hit Crescent right on.

"Alright!" Misty cheered. "Now, try using Hydro Pump!" Vaporeon twitched then looked back at Misty, blinking it's beady blue eyes. Misty's own started to tear up with anime tears. "You don't know hydro pump!"

"On!" Vaporeon bobbed its head with acknowledgement.

"HA!" Catrinna used this pause to her advantage. "Crescent show it you're Shadow swipe!"

"Shadow swipe?" Misty questioned. What the… Suddenly, there was no more Crescent! Both Misty and vaporeon looked around, totally confused. There! Misty spotted a movement behind Vaporeon. "There, behind you, Vaporeon! I think it's turned into a shadow!" Indeed it had. No sooner had vaporeon turned that a dark, shadowy claw came out of nowhere and gave Vaporeon a few good swipes before giving it one final blow that threw Vaporeon back a few feet.

That was painful, "Are you okay, Vaporeon?" Misty shouted. Vaporeon nodded and slowly got to its feet. "Surf, please tell me you know surf!" Misty begged. There was a mischievous light in vaporeon's eyes as it shouted out it's name. Out of nowhere, a wave of water appeared behind vaporeon. Vaporeon jumped up and let the wave carry it away, blending in with the attack. Crescent began panicking, how was it supposed to dodge this huge wave? It was, well, huge! It took up all the dodging area.

"Crescent, try and swim!" Catrinna cried out. It was too late! Crescent was buffeted by the wave and thrown into a wall when it was done.

"Great!" Misty cheered, "Now use you're water gun!" Caporeon opened it's mouth an a surge of water hit Crescent, once again throwing it against the wall. Crescent was seriously hurt, and Catrinna was ticked off.

"Alright, time to finish this now, Crescent, use midnight storm!" There was a hush in the crowd. Suddenly, the bright arena was no longer bright. It was totally pitch black. Misty couldn't see anything.

"Vaporeon?" She called out. She heard a weak and frightened call. Vaporeon was shook up, but no harm hand befallen it, yet. Misty squinted her eyes and looked up. She could see a crescent mood in the ceiling. She tried to look out into the arena again, and she could see the crescent now! Right now, the crescent reminded her of an umbreon, but you couldn't see anything but the odd shapes on the fur of the pokemon, it didn't seem to light anything up so she could be aware.

Rumble

Misty's head shot up. The moon was gone now and the wind was beginning to pick up. This was odd, a storm? Inside the building? It was raining now and the wind was still blowing, harsher this time. In a flash, Misty could sense what was coming. "Vaporeon, move! Just keep moving around!" She cried out desperately. She still couldn't see, she only hoped that vaporeon had heard her over the rumbling sky. Suddenly, for only a brief second, the arena was lit by a flash of lightning that touched the ground right where vaporeon had been. This wasn't the end. Even as the water kept coming down, soaking everything in its path, the lightening became more frequent and unpredictable.

"VAAAAP!" Oh no! This was it. A stray lightning bolt had hit vaporeon. Misty winced as the storm finally died down and the rumbling moved to a distance and the wind slowed to a breeze till finally there was nothing. The arena's light slowly began to return, revealing a fainted vaporeon and a panting crescent.

"The winner is, Catrinna and her crescent!"

There was a cheer in the crowd. Really, they didn't care who won, all they cared about was the awesome battle, well, they did care about the pokemon master's wrath if she would have lost, but that was besides the point. Misty sighed deeply as she recalled vaporeon. Maybe she shouldn't battle with pokemon she knew nothing about…

"Hey," Catrinna walked over to Misty, a smug look dominating her features, but still, she stuck out her hand as a peace offering. "You weren't half bad. You gave me a run for the money, as it were." Misty smiled gratefully and accepted the extended hand. "I don't think I'd mind fighting with you today," Catrinna continued, "Although," She winked, "don't know if I'd want you guarding me." Misty opened her mouth to retort, but she sighed and nodded. She was beaten. Catrinna had proven herself more knowledgeable, but it was still fun.

"Alright." Both girls smirked at each other with fire blazing in their eyes, "Now that I've had a battle, I'm fired up and ready to go!"

* * *

_"Go to sleep, honey."_

_(flash)_

_"Mommy, I'm worried."_

_(flash)_

_"The house is surrounded!"_

_(Flash)_

_"Go, Pikachu!"_

_Red_

_"We started this together, we're going to end it together."_

_Blood_

_"ASH!"_

_Red Blood_

_"Did I miss?"_

_So much…_

_"He's dead…"_

_…Blood_

"Misty?" Cerulean eyes popped open to stare into worried brown eyes. "You okay?" Ash leaned back, but didn't move his gaze. Misty ignored the question and looked around, trying to get her bearings. They were inside a helicopter once again. They were on their way to fight the battle before them. Troops had been sent out before them to infiltrate the main base, people more skilled at that sort of thing than they were. (Ruby had said it was because they were quieter than Joey and Ash and they didn't take Misty and herself because they didn't want to hurt the boys' feelings.) Ruby and Joey had gone in another helicopter, somewhere, they were going to meet up with them when they got there. Ash and herself were in the passenger seats of the helicopter, apparently she had fallen asleep on Ash's shoulder and just now he had woken her up.

"Myst?" Ash repeated, "Are you okay?"

Misty smiled reassuring both Ash and herself. "I'm fine, Ash. Just a bad dream."

"Memory, or dream?" Ash's eyebrows bunched together.

Misty bit her lip and turned to look out the window, ignoring the question. Ash looked at her moment, then turned to look at the window closest to him. He sighed, frustrated at her unwillingness to talk, and still worried at the same time. How many bad memories would this bring up?

_"This isn't going to be a good memory." Ash gagged slightly. A houndoom from the other side was gnawing on a man's forearm, not letting go even as the man yelled and squirmed, tossing the pokemon about, but the houndoom wouldn't let go. Ash cringed and looked at the owner of the pokemon. "Toby! Let him go! You've beaten his pokemon already!" The owner turned his cold stare to glare at Ash. He was shocked to find that man smiling!_

_"This is payback, master Ketchum! You know what they did to my family." Ash swallowed, remembering the devastation on that village caused by the rockets. _

_"But," Ash grasped for the right words to say, "Right now you're being no better than they were."_

_"No!" Toby snapped. "I'm better than them! I don't attack innocent people! This is war! These monsters don't deserve to live!" Tears streamed down Toby's cheeks, memories seeping into his brain. _

_Ash was feeling tears prickle his eyes. He knew Toby, Toby was a kind boy before all this. He was a big family man. He had two parents and a little sister. While Toby was away, rockets had invaded his land and his parents resisted, so they were taken prisoner, his father shot and who knows what to his mother and sister. Now he was no longer the sweet boy. "Toby…" Ash sighed, "You're doing the same thing they did. He may have a family somewhere." He swallowed. He hated to bring this up, not only was it cliché, but it was almost below the belt to bring it up, but it had to be done. "You're parents were good people. They wouldn't be doing this; they knew it was wrong and so do you. I don't think you're parents are proud of you right now. Would they be smiling at you right now?"_

_Toby ground his teeth together, but he didn't say anything. Finally, he ordered his Houndoom to let go. There wasn't much left of the arm. Toby walked over to the man and glared at him even as the rocket was crying, cradling his broken arm. Toby sneered and kicked him in the stomach before turning and walking down the hall to continue his purpose._

_Ash sighed, glad that that was over. "ASH!" Ash turned, there was Misty, racing towards him, Togetic not far behind. Her hands were covered in blood, as was her shirt. "Ash, the south wing is secure." She panted and slowed to a stop in front of him. Her eyes unconsciously trailed his body searching for any injuries, any blood. "Are you okay?"_

_Ash nodded, eyeing misty carefully. She'd been acting odd lately, especially more so as the war progressed. She was so paranoid and began freaking out every time she saw blood anywhere near him. "I'm alright." He assured her. _

_"Ash," Her gaze stopped at his side. "You're coat's red! Let me see!" She franticly lifted the coat to check his shirt, no blood. _

_"Misty," Ash sighed, "That was probably from someone else, I'm fine! I promise! What about you? You're covered in it." He almost regretted asking when her eyes glazed over, recalling the most recent memory._

_"There was a really big battle in the main office – that's in the south wing. There were at least fifty rockets. A – A lot of out men were damaged, so I was helping patch them up." She stared at her hands. "There was so much blood." Ash cringed. He thought she would do better at healing than having to be in the middle of battle, but some how it seemed to make it worse. He told her to come back to combat, but she refused, she felt she could be more helpful this way, even if it was tearing her apart. "There was this guy," She continued, "His last pokemon was beaten by a scyther, and the scyther, he – he…" Misty paused, letting the tears roll down her cheeks. Ash held her in his arms and rocked her back and forth. It seemed that she always saw the worst things. It occurred to him that there wasn't much of a better scene in this room, so he gently lead her out and into the wide open for some fresh air. _

_On the way out, he passed men running back and forth, none seemed to notice the couple. They were all on their side, apparently, their raid on the base was successful, bloody, but successful all the same. Ash held Misty's head close to his chest as he led her out, praying the war would soon end. _

"Ash? Hey, Ash, snap out of it!" Ash turned and smiled at Misty. There she was, as normal as could be. Somehow, heaven and granted that the general amount of those war memories would be erased form both of their minds, or at least the details, but now that they were getting closer to another war, it was all coming back. Ash still smiled. Misty was still Misty. She was okay and smiling –worried, but smiling at Ash, something she rarely ever did in their last few years. Suddenly, he had the urge to hug and kiss her. So he did.

Misty screeched and pulled away from Ash, scrambling to the other side of the helicopter. She was making him snap out of his daydream when he suddenly decided to randomly hug and kiss her! She felt a blush rush to her face, but she shook her head. Why was she blushing? They'd been married for over 85 years now! Why should she be embarrassed? Oh yes, she remembered…

"Ash, you moron!" The blush was still on her face, Ash gleefully noticed. "I was waking you up! What was that for?"

"Because you're you. Now what did you want?" Misty scowled and stood up. It was then Ash noticed the helicopter was no longer moving.

"We're here, _idiot_." Ash's eyes widened as he slowly turned, finally noticing the draft. The door was open, and there they were. Joey, Rose, Catrinna, Nemo and a few other people he didn't recognize. Rose was laughing her head off and Joey was whistling, yelling out things like "You go boy!" And "Maybe we should leave you in a room together!" Catrinna had her arms crossed and her eyes rolled in the other direction, but a small smile was on her lips. Nemo was behind her, smiling, but slightly mourning the loss of another pretty lady. The other members of the crowd that Ash didn't recognize were whistling, making comments, or just plain laughing.

Ash could feel his face becoming redder by the second. His mouth gapped open like a fish as he groped for some excuse. Catrinna finally shook her head and saved him the embarrassment (much to the disappointment of everyone else) "Look people," She snapped, "We've got a war to fight, okay?"

* * *

"Catrinna! To your left!" Ash shouted the warning. The war had already started once they'd gotten there. Most of the rockets were already settled, planning a large attack and then spread out. It was a good thing that they got them all at once, hopefully this would end a possible long war, well, at least that's what Ash was hoping. He quickly scanned the battle area. He doubted if people were truly ready for this. They were expecting pokemon battles, but in times like this, desperate rockets started pulling out knives and sometimes guns. 

Catrinna ordered her Charizard to use his flamethrower to burn the razor leaves to ash. She was irritated, he could tell. She only called on Charizard in dire situations. She wanted to end this. Already, many of the people that they had brought with them had fallen. He knew she was feeling responsible for them. His eyes were full of pity, but he chose to say nothing. Catrinna didn't seem like the person who wanted pity. She was strong, she was much like her great-grandfather, Drake.

_The long hallway stretched out in front of him. He gulped a little and took a step foreword. He always hated hospitals. Everything was so – white! Every once in a while he would glance at the numbers by the door. 508… 510… He would be at the end, wouldn't he? 516… He passed an old woman who was screeching her heart out, screaming something about 'help me' and pulling on the poor nurse's hair. Ash almost stopped, but the doctor in the room sighed and motioned for Ash to move on. (Hey, my grandma was by one of these people, I'll tell you sometime…) 520… There! So he was wrong, second to last one. He quietly stepped in the sterile room. "Hey." Ash whispered. Misty peaked around his shoulder. Drake was laid out on the bed, his breathing was short and irregular and Ash was worried that any wrong move would set something off._

_"Drake?" Misty slowly stepped past Ash and pulled up a chair beside Drake's bed. "Are you awake?" Ash took a deep breath and moved closer to Misty, standing behind her, watching the heart monitor. A smile spread on Misty's face as Drake's eyes slowly blinked open._

_"Hey, Ash, Misty. How're you guys doing?"_

_"I should ask you the same thing." Drake's mouth twitched and he turned away from Misty's gaze._

_"I'm fine, thank-you. How 'bout you Ash?"_

_"I'm alright. I missed you in the meeting today."_

_"Yea?" Drake turned to look at Ash, grateful for the change in topic. "How was it?"_

_"It wasn't bad, Lt. Surge flirted as usual of course." Ash grinned at the memory. Drake, as well, chuckled, but his chuckle sounded more like a gurgle of blood._

_"Oh, Drake!" Misty sat up, rigid in her seat for worry. "Maybe you shouldn't take, you're throat…"_

_"It doesn't matter!" He snapped. "It's not going to get better so no use cryin' about it!"_

_Silence._

_Ash knew, he was sorry for Drake too. Apparently, Drake was diagnosed with lung cancer. He still had a year or so left according to the doctor, but in a reacent fight, Drake went to much and hurried the little devil along. Ash felt a great well of sympathy for this great man, but, because he was a great man, he didn't want any pity. He had his pride and he was strong. He would deal with it without breaking down and he would go along for the ride._

_It was getting too silent for Ash's taste. He started whistling a little and studying the place. He turned his body slightly, not noticing the vase that was in the way of his elbow. With a loud crash it was all over the floor. Misty snapped to attention at the sudden noise, then realizing who and why, her attention turned to Ash. "Ash, you klutz!"_

_"I'm sorry – hey, I'm not a klutz! That vase wasn't there before!"_

_"Sure," Misty stood up from her chair only to kneel down and try to pick up the broken pieces of glass. "It just magically appeared right behind you without us noticing."_

_"Exactly! Wait, Misty, you're not funny!"_

_"Well," Misty smirked, "Drake thinks I am." Indeed, Drake was chuckling in his bed. It hurt to laugh, and yet, it felt good in his heart, so Ash looked at misty with the old twinkle in his eye and it began._

_"Well, maybe Drake was laughing at you not with you." Misty stood up, tossed the contents in her hand into the garbage, and then moved to stand in front of Ash._

_"Maybe you're just an idiot!"_

_"Am not!"_

_"Are to!"_

_"Not!"_

_"Are too!"_

_"Not!"_

_"Too!"_

_"Not!"_

_"Too – wait," Misty crossed her arms and turned her head away, speaking in a high tone, " this is just proving you're an idiot by having this conversation." Ash grinned,_

_"Oh, and who else am I having this conversation with, myself?"_

_"I wouldn't doubt it!"_

_This conversation went on for a while, doctors and nurses came in once in a while to check on the noise, then shook their heads and left. Once doctor tried to shush them, but Drake just continued to laugh and motion for the doctor to let it be. So the doctor nodded and left, but closed the door behind him. Not only was Drake enjoying this, but so were Ash and Misty. Neither of them had let go of their older, more mature selves in a while and just had an all out childish argument, and they were having fun!_

_Drake was laughing, he appreciated it more than the sentimentality because he was strong, and boy did it feel good to laugh._

_Drake also died two weeks later, and at his funeral, Ash said, with tears in his eyes, that his strength helped him live life to the last minute._

" – up. Hey, are you listening to me?" Ash blinked out of his memories and turned his attention to Catrinna. This room was clear, for the moment, her Charizard still remained out of its pokeball, stopping any rocket that would attempt to come in the room. It was fortunate, Ash thought, that this room was big enough for Charizard to fit in.

"I'm listening." Ash answered.

"Good." Catrinna still held her air of authority. "You four," She pointed to a group to their left, "Go to the right. And you four," She pointed to another group, "Go to the left. And you people," She was now looking at Ash, Misty, Ruby and Joey, "Are coming with me down the center."

"what, you actually want us to come with you, you old hag?" Joey stuck his tongue out, masking his surprise. Catrinna made a fist with her hand and held it in front of Joey's face.

"You're the only ones left – and don't call me old, I'm seventeen, thank-you!"

"Whatever. Let's just go." Ruby rolled her eyes, stepping towards the center hallway. Her movements were halted by the painful roar from Charizard. All five turned and saw A block of ice that had once been Charizard. There was a moment of shocked silence. Then footsteps were heard, slow, deliberate footsteps. From behind the block of ice, there appeared one lone man with a pokeball in his hands. He wore the traditional black rocket outfit with a red R on the front. Over the outfit was a long, black trench coat reaching to his ankles. He had untidy black hair and stubbles on his unshaven chin. A smirk was present on his face as he studied the group's shocked expressions. "Nice to meet you all, you appear to be the leaders of this whole 'take-over' situation, are you not?" Catrinna was the first to react.

"Who are you and what have you done to my Charizard?" Catrinna took a step foreword to let him know who was talking. Her hands were in fists held to her side. She was angry and confused by this man's actions, how had he defeated her Charizard so easily? The man only let his smirk grow wider, if only to irritate her more.

"My, my, aren't you a rude little girl? What happened to proper instructions? I usually like to know who my opponents are before I destroy them."

"Answer my question!" Catrinna was furious at his attitude. She took another step foreword. She was now in front of the other four, her body in a posture ready to attack.

"My, you are rather hard to talk to." He scanned the group, as if looking for his next target. "You," He gaze stopped on Ruby. "You look like you would answer me. Care to tell me you're name?" Ruby stepped back. Even under the intense gaze of his blue yes could she feel the power of this man.

"I-" Joey stepped in front of her, stopping her sentence. His green eyes were angry and determined. He reminded Ash of himself.

"She doesn't have to answer you." Joey growled. He wasn't happy about this man just stepping in and looking at them like they were playthings. Not just that, but he was threatening Ruby and that, Joey wouldn't stand for. "Who are you to order us around like that?" The man's smirk faltered for just a second.

"You all are very uncooperative, aren't you?" He glanced around the room. Ash stood with his arms folded across his chest and Pixit sitting on his shoulder, ready to defend her master. Misty was beside him, equally challenging. Togetic was floating in front of her, waiting for the man's first move. Joey was still in front of Ruby, but Ruby was gaining more confidence and she peeked from behind Joey to glare defiantly at this man who dared to intimidate her. His gaze rested on Catrinna, still in front of the group. Her dark eyes were glowing with anger, yet curiosity. Who was this man that radiated such power?

"I'll ask again," Catrinna hissed, "Who are you and what did you do to my Charizard?" He turned to look at her frozen Charizard as if it were the first time he noticed it.

"It is a magnificent creature, isn't it? Yes," He turned back to smile at Catrinna, "you did a good job raising it."

"Get to the point already!" Misty snapped.

"Yes, yes, if you insist on being to rude. My name is Anthony. I am the second in command of all the rockets, more of the fighter if you will." He made a slight movement as though to bow before he continue. "Now, if you will be so kind as to tell your names and your involvements."

"Why do you care?" Ash asked, he was curious. This was certainly an odd rocket.

"I told you." He sighed, impatient with all their questions. "It's no fun just right out defeating your opponents! I would like to know a little bit about you before I kill you." Ruby wrinkled her nose.

"You're weird." Anthony cleared his throat.

"I wish to battle one of you. I don't' care which one; you'll all get your turn. You," He stared into Catrinna's dark eyes. "Are you the pokemon master?"

"I am."

"Very well, I challenge you." Catrinna's eyes narrowed dangerously. She reached behind her to grab a pokeball.

"Fine. What are the rules and how many pokemon?"

"Rules?" Anthony laughed. "What rules?" Then the laughter was suddenly gone. His eyes held a glint of madness as he stared her right in the face. "The rules are that there are no rules."

* * *

Yay! I decided to stop here. I felt bad it's taking me forever to finish this. But the good news is that there is only two more chapters and the last one is written, which really is more like an epilogue that resolves everything. SO, we have one more major chapter! YAY! Hope you all liked this one. 

Ack… this chapter took me _forever!_ I'm not good with battle scenes and I just couldn't think of a good Drake flashback. Sorry if it was kind of pathetic, I really thought it needed to be in there, but grrrrrr! Stupid Drake… Anyway, but wasn't that last attack from Crscent soooo cool? I'm so proud of it! HA HA Haaaaa…. What?

I _DO_ have plans for an old pokemon in the next chapter, and also I have to fill in some flashbacks about what happened with some of their friends, so look forward to that, obviously there's the second in command battle, as well as the master dude battle but the master dude's battle will be different. (Don't worry, I have the general plot idea of the next chapter, it's just filling it in, that's the problem)

_SO_ in the next chapter we have a bunch of flashbacks, a few major battles AND you find out what happens with Ruby and Joey and such, and it's the chapter before the epilogue. Question you ask yourself, when will you find out what happened to Ash and Misty? HA HA HA HA HA! You'll just have to wait and see, I don't want to spoil it for you. You have to come back for that. So Please, do come back, even if it takes forever and a day to get it out. Hey, at least this chapter was long(er), right?

no timeline, sorry folks, is having seriously irritating issues.

_Hey, I know it's slightly shameful, but I started another story… heh heh… but I told myself I had to finish this chapter before posting it! It's not an AAML, if fact, it's not even pokemon. It's for Naruto, a SasuSaku if anyone is interested, the first chapter is done and so is the plot, so look foreward to it if you like that anime and pairing.  
_(Not that I'm doing any promotions for my toerh stories... (Insert innocent whistles)

Smile Jesus loves you


	11. There are no rules:AND:one final errand

(**Note**: This is chapter 11 and 12. It just kind of flowed together and is also an apology for aking so long. Thank-you all for waiting!)

(**Note 2**: There's a special note to all my wonderful fans out there at the end)

WeirdDutchGuy: Sorry, did I spell your name right, now? Yea, the attack was rather powerful and such, but I was so proud of it ) I guess if a pokemon was really good at agility or reflect you could dodge it. I was thinking it was more or less chance if you got hit or not. There's another attack in here, it's similar to an actual attack in the game, but more powerful, but requires a powerful pokemon to do it… anyway… yes, this is actually the end. I combined the chapters, so it's certainly longer than usual (I hope)

Etherelemental: Hey, if you want, I can post more advertisement in your review thing! (Insert smiley face) Have you seen Naruto? It's a great anime, you should! No, haven't ready the manga, although, I've wanted to read the one with Ash and Misty in it, but I can't find it anywhere. I think it went up to the orange islands and Ash knew about rudy asking Misty to stay, in fact, I think he proposed to her and Ash stood up for her, but this is according to an AAML site I saw ages ago. Have you seen it? Anyway, hope you enjoy!

AmberMyst: Yes, the helicopter scene was rather nice. I had some scene music playing on, you know those silly music themes that play when something embaressing or silly goes on? Anyway, I'm glad you liked it, and I hope you enjoy this one too!

'-'ObSeSsEd YaOi '-': Glad you liked

Neogirl7900: Believe it or not, I say 'cursed cheeseball' quite often, personally, it relieves a lot more tension. (Insert smiley face) They're more incharacter in the 10th chapter, slight goofiness on their part I suppose, but the next chapter (that I inserted) is their last battle when they were alive, so it'll be rather out of character actually, but wouldn't you be changed after a war? Anyway, thanks a bundle for reviewing!

P.S. I'm just a lazy person, but I will get around to reviewing your story, kay?

Halley: Ha ha, yea, I was proud of remembering the dorky names (Insert smiley face)

Nameless: Thanks. Hope you like this too

Wishfullness: Ha ha… you haven't read much have you? But thanks anyway! I appreciate it, and I hope the rest lives up to your standards!

ENJOY, this may be the last pokemon story I write for a long while

So here it is, the endings to Second Chances!

**Second chances  
****Part 11; "There are no Rules."**

"The rules are that there are no rules." Anthony's smirk returned, finding great amusement in their fear and frustration. Catrinna reached behind her to grab a poke'ball from her belt. While she did so, she whispered back to the remaining four.

"Run. I want you all to get out of here." She whispered harshly. Her gaze never left Anthony's piercing blue eyes. "Ruby and Joey, you go together and try and find the boss to shut him down. Ash and Misty, I want you to cover them, battle for them so they can save up their energy." Ash and Misty nodded affirmatively and took off with their pokemon and Ruby following closely behind. Joey hesitated a moment – would she be okay without their support? "GO!" She ordered, this time taking her eyes of her adversary. Joey grit his teeth and ran to catch up with his group. "Now," She turned her full attention to Anthony. His grin was ever present on his face and his Lapras stood in front of him, angry and ready to fight.

"I'm hoping the pokemon master will present a better fight than the others have. I'm looking foreword to kicking your butt." He folded his arms over his chest and waited for her choice in pokemon.

She got her poke'ball out and held it in front of her. "I've had some practice before, so I know I'm ready. Don't underestimate me."

And the poke'ball flew.

**

* * *

**

"Misty! I can't see anything, are you okay?" He heard her cough somewhere to his left.

"Wonderful Ash." He heard her cough more, the sound was slowly getting closer.

"Ruby?" He called. "Joey?" No answer. "I think we overdid that explosion." Ash mumbled slightly, glancing over at Pixit. Pixit only happily said it's name, proud of the destruction it caused while it sat on Ash's shoulder. The smoke from the explosion was finally clearing and Ash could make out bodies on the floor. None he recognized – thank-goodness – and Misty was staggering to his side, still coughing away. "Maybe we should take a break in another room…" Ash chuckled nervously, unsure whether risk getting closer or to back away from her wrath.. Misty glared at him slightly – which would have been scarier had her hair not had smoke rising from it and her face dirty from soot and smoke.

"Next time you use an explosive attack, try and not do it in an enclosed area." She took a break to cough before continuing. "Are we supposed to be following Ruby and Joey?"

"Fine, fine." Ash looked around the now clear room examining the bodies closely, making sure he didn't get anyone he wasn't supposed to.

"You know," Misty said, suddenly while Ash roamed around the room. "Do you ever wonder what happened to our old pokemon?" Togetic looked at her from his position on her shoulder. "Well, I know about you, I mean others, like Staru, Starmie, Corsella, Dewgong…"

"Psyduck." Ash grinned. Misty turned and stuck her tongue out then turned her nose up and to the side.

"I-"

"HEY! YOU STUPID POKEMON! DID I SAY YOU COULD COME OUT YET!"

Ash and Misty stopped and looked at each other. Nemo was coming towards them. How could they forget that voice? Ash cringed at the thought. It was a guy version of her sisters, and Misty laughed at Ash's discomfort. They listened as Nemo yelled even more at the pokemon. "YOU STUPID MORON! WHERE ARE YOU GOING!"

"Hey," Ash stood tall and turned the corner to walk out into the hallway where Nemo's voice was coming from to show himself to Nemo. Ash was annoyed at the way Nemo was treating his pokemon. As soon as he turned the corner, a small pokemon pushed passed his feet followed by an irritated Nemo who smashed right into Ash, pausing his chase. Ash subconsciously made an annoyed growling sound in the back of his throat, already annoyed with Misty's relative before he whirled around and began to watch with amusement as the scene took place. He had just discovered that the relatives were conncected by more than just blood.

Misty almost screeched as she felt something attach itself to her leg. She finally did screech and look down to shake off the thing on her leg. It was like one big blob that was sucking all her blood form her leg! She would've screeched again had she not realized it wasn't sucking her blood, in face, there it was - yellow, her favorite color - that stupid face. There was no mistaking it.

"PSYDUCK! What are you doing?" Nemo scolded. "Don't molest the pretty young lady's leg! Come HERE!"

"PSY-iye!" Psyduck grinned its happy little grinned and glued itself all the more to Misty's leg. Misty laughed. Psyduck, HER Psyduck was still alive! There was no mistaking that stupid grin, that stupid face, and her second favorite pokemon. He was just too stubborn to die, huh?

"Hey," Nemo was loosing all hope. "I'm you're master." He whined. When Psyduck made no movement to unattatch itself, Nemo sighed and, his eyes suddenly going droopy. "I'd gladly give him to you, but he's a family heirloom… sort-of." He watched Psyduck, "I think this Psyduck is so old, its lost all its common sense" Nemo sighed resentfully.

"It never had any to begin with" Ash mumbled under his breath. Misty only laughed and peeled the pokemon off her leg and held it in her arms.

"It may be stupid, but I think its cute. Now," She them placed Psyduck down on the ground and was silent for a moment before a fist came slamming on Psyduck's head. "DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!"

"Psy-iye!"

**

* * *

**

"Hey, Joey?" Ruby bit her lip and looked behind her.

"What?" Joey was slightly irritated. He was lost, dirty, and he was sown to half of his pokemon. He just wanted to find the stupid bosses office! How hard could it be? Apparently, a lot harder than he expected.

"I think we lost Ash and Misty." Joey stopped his rampage down the hall to stop and look behind them. She was right. No Ash or Misty in sight.

"Great" He sighed. He looked at Ruby and noticed she held the same worried look. She was scared, not just for Ash and Misty, but for both of them as well. Joey forced himself to stand up and put on his giant grin. "Don't worry!" He declared. Ruby looked up at him with wide eyes. "I'll protect us!" A look of relief passed over Ruby's face, then just as quickly as it had become, if only to calm the situation, she put on her smug look and walked ahead of Joey.

"Alright then, you do your hero thing and I'll get us there. We wouldn't want to waist our energy getting lost if you lead us!"

**

* * *

**

The room was already covered in ice and burn spots all over, there wasn't much left of the walls. Another ice beam was shot at Typlosion. The agile Typlosion easily rolled to the side and launched a flamethrower at the tired Lapras. Lapras through an ice beam at the oncoming flame, causing any evidence of the attack to disappear save for a few drops of water on the ground. Catrinna examined her opponents pokemon and grinned. "You're Lapras is tired." She pointed out. Anthony lazily gazed at his Lapras.

"So it is. That doesn't mean you'll win." Catrinna grinned.

"You're just overconfident."

"And you aren't?"

"It's obvious I will win, so I have confidence with good reason. Typhlosion, Fire Blast!" Typslosion breathed in heavily, taking in all the air and power it could muster up. Anthony growled out of frustration for the first time and ordered his Lapras to obliterate it with an ice beam. The two attacks came rushing at each other with amazing speed, however, though Lapras' attack was powerful, it was slowing down and tiring greatly. The two attacks hit each other and fought for dominance until Lapras gave out and let the fire blast knock whatever strength was left in it.

For the first time she had met him, Anthony let out a frustrated growl. "Return, Lapras." He pulled out another poke'ball, and with it a grim smirk. "You're right." He held out the poke'ball as Typhlosion jumped in front of its master, ready for battle. "I did underestimate you, but no more! Kick her butt, Onix!"

**

* * *

**

"KARATE CHOP!"

Catrinna knew her Drantini was out even before Machamp could finish his work. Anthony let the smirk grow. "I do believe this is your last pokemon, is it not?"

"It is." Catrinna's smirk never left as she recalled Dratini. "I have to say," Instead of her hand returning to reach for another poke'ball at her belt, her hand moved up to the jewlry around her neck. "I don't know if I've ever had to seriously use and depend on this pokemon." She unclipped the super small poke'ball from her necklace and smirked even more as she felt in enlarge in her hand. "Get ready for it."

"I look foreword to it. I also have to tell you I haven't enjoyed a battle this much in a long while." Catrinna said nothing, but let her poke'ball fly out in the middle of the room.

**

* * *

**

Ash stopped and Misty clung to him for dear life. "What the heck was that?" The whole building shook as though an earthquake was shaking the very foundations.

"Ash," Misty gasped, "The roof is caving in!" she jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding a piece of the ceiling. Ash grabbed Misty's hand and pulled her to safety in another room.

"We need to find Ruby and Joey NOW!" Ash yelled, still dragging Misty. He stopped at the end of a hallway where it spilt into two ways.

"No duh, Sherlock." Misty scowled, not thrilled at being tugged along. Ash barred his teeth, his head swinging back and forth trying to use his instincts to find the way. There was a sudden loud crack above their heads and a voice suddenly calling out the warning.

"LOOK OUT!" Ash and Misty's heads immediately look up in time to see a burst of electricity break apart a rock coming straight down on them. Once the smaller pieces from the broken and charred area and finished falling. They turned and saw a man around his thirties run up to them, shouting orders. "You two shouldn't be here! We've almost taken over, but it seems that all that remains is the main guy. You should get out and let the professionals handle it." Ash shook his head politely.

"No, we're here to help, besides, we need to find our friends, have you seen them?" Ash continued to describe Ruby and Joey, but Misty was tuning him out. Her whole attention was on this man before them. He had short, bright orange hair and dazzling brown eyes. He seemed so…

"Hey," She interrupted them. "What's your name?" Both Ash and the man stopped and looked at Misty, then Ash studied the man also.

"That's-" The older one shook his head and shrugged. "I'm Sky Ketchum, main guard for the pokemon master."

"WHA!" Ash and Misty stood before him, jaws slacked and eyes bulging. Sky shrugged slightly and sighed.

"Yea, that's the usual reaction. Yes," He sighed again. "I'm the grandchild of the legendary Ketchums." He rolled his eyes. A Pikachu scampered in and jumped on his shoulder, chirping away in its own language. "Hey, look," He responded. "You really should get out of here but I get the feeling your not going to listen to me. So keep going and I'll pretend I never saw you." He snorted slightly and continued to run off in the direction they had come from, yelling as he went along, "Don't blame me if you get caught!" Together they want their own grandchild disappear around the corner with amazed looks on their faces.

"He has your temper." Ash suddenly commented. Misty twitched slightly then lightly hit him over the head with her fist.

"I see his hero complex seems to have died down over the generations."

"Speaking of hero!" Ash stopped rubbing his head. "We need to go save Ruby and Joey, not to mention get out of this place!"

**

* * *

**

The ground shook, the walls trembled – and the ceiling was no more. Catrinna crossed her arms, smirking as debris fell around her. Anthony couldn't help but wonder at the pokemon before him. It was a dragon – no doubt about that. It wasn't like Charizard or Dragonite, standing on two feet, no, it was on all four and still towering over everything. When it bucked just to roar and make noise, its whole body and head went through the ceiling, letting in fresh air and giving it more room. It's massive green, scaley tail swung back and forth taking out anything in its path. Sharp teeth were visible even when the mouth was closed and it's sharp yellow eyes were fixated on Anthony and the quivering Machamp under it. It simply and to raise a foot and stomp the fighting pokemon the ground. Fire blew from its nostrils even when it only let out a breath. It was very much like a classic green Dragon told in fairy tales of today.

"Well well," Anthony finally regained his composure. "How did you come up with a Drako? It's said there's only one in the world."

"I found it as a kid." She smirked. "I've had this baby since I was a kid and I've raised it with me. There's no way you can beat the legendary Drako!" Anthony only smirked, but if you looked close you could see the sweat beginning to build. He was in trouble indeed.

**

* * *

**

"Here!" Joey turned to the right, ready to burst through the tiny black door on the right.

"No, HERE!" Ruby pulled Joey to the left towards to large red double doors directly across from the black one.

"No!" Joey pulled Ruby's arm, bracing himself against her pull in the opposite direction. "The bad guy is in here!"

"No way!" Ruby shook her head. "The bad guy is always in the big red doors, don't you watch movies?"

"I don't need to!" Joey's voice was strained. "I can feel the evilness from in here!" He took and deep breath. "Now, come-" He pulled as hard as he could, "ON!" Both went tumbling foreword into the smaller room. It was pitch black and the only light provided was the small, dim light from the hallway that only light up two feet in front of their faces. As they recovered from the fall, a dark chuhckle greeted them from deep in the darkness.

"Welcome to my room."

**

* * *

**

Anthony chuckled, no longer confident; it was more of a 'I'm-so-screwed-might-as-well-blow-it-all-and-laugh-like-a-maniac' chuckle. He was down to his last pokemon. Not only did he 'cheat' and use a seventh pokemon, but it was a Dragonite as well. Dragonite had done well against such a powerful pokemon, and it was tiring, but it was no where close to the Drako.

"Give up yet?" Catrinna called out from across the room. A grin reigned on her face. She was sooty, dirty, and overall just plain tired, but she was going to relish this victory and kick his butt. Anthony shook his head.

"Sorry, I don't give up without a fight."

"Good, but I'll cut your suffering. Drako," The large green dragon's head shook slightly, acknowledging his master's cry. "Time to finish this off with a Triple attack!" Anthony eyes her with questioning eyes.

"Dragonite, use your reflect! I don't know what's going to happen, but be ready for it!" Dragonite barely had a chance to build up it's reflect when Drako launched a powerful fireblast, cracking the reflect. Before anything else could be recovered, the dragon's eyes glowed a bright blue and the room became colder. Multiple sharp iceicles shot at Dragonite from all directions and effectively cracking it's reflect – and finally, for the last blow, Drako roared and from the horns on it's head calm a strong Thunder attack increased by the conduction from the frozen water stuff to the Dragonite.

The bright flash lasted a few seconds and Anthony knew he was done. He held out his pokemon and recalled it to the bright red light. "You were good." He said.

"You too." Catrinna acknowledged. She walked over and placed a hand on her pokemon. It was panting hard. The attack was a very powerful one, but every good attack has some bad point to it. Hyper beam made you wait a turn, some attacks if you miss cause damage, this attack causes you to loose 350 heath points – so you better be pretty powerful. Catrinna rubbed it's belly affectionately. "So," She watched her opponent with interest. "Do I get to take you with me now, or shall I let Drako finish you?" She paused. "You know, it's a shame you're on the bad side, you would've been a great rival for me." He laughed slightly.

"Nah, I never play fair." He reached into his pocket and threw out a smoke bomb. "I'll try not to cause too much trouble if you'll give me a rematch someday!" With that, Catrinna knew he was gone.

**

* * *

**

Joey's face was set in an unusually serious face as he pushed himself to his feet. He purposefully placed himself in front of Ruby and glared straight into center of the darkness. "You're the evil guy, aren't you?" He heard a chuckle.

"I wouldn't say I'm 'evil', however I may be in your definitions. There are many 'evil' men out there."

"Idiot, ask the right question!" Ruby squeaked, regained her voice. She peeked from behind Joey. "Are you the guy behind all the attacks and trying to take over?" They could almost feel the sadistic grin. He laughed again, enjoying his position.

"Why, yes I am. You're a perceptive girl, aren't you." There was a squeaking sound and then footsteps coming closer to them. Joey put a hand in front of Ruby and started to back out the door into the light. He laughed and the door behind the suddenly shut. "Now, now. You came in here so rudely, why don't you stay a while?" Lights came up to reveal a man in his late forties. He was blade on top with brown hair on the sides and a full beard. He wore a business suite, nothing sloppy about him, but neither child cared about that. The only thing they could concentrate on was the shiny black object pointed right at them. "My name is Keiji by the way, remember that. Although," He chuckled lightly, "You really wont be able to tell anyone that, so it's kind of pointless now isn't it?"

Joey's mouth was dry as he spoke and he had to lick his lips a few times. "I-I challenge you to a pokemon battle!" There was a moment of silence and Joey was sure he was going to accept – but no! He suddenly threw his head back and began laughing.

"No, no, my silly boy! I'm not really a pokemon man. Anthony, my second in command is. I just want power. I like the power they can give you, but then," His eyes gazed at the gun in his hand. "This certainly gives you a sense of power, doesn't it?" He kept the gun pointed at them as he licked his lips. "Yes, I'm certainly feeling in control of this situation. Now, would you be so kind as to be examples –"

The door was suddenly knocked down forcefully enough to knock it off the hinges. Four shadows appeared in the doorway.

"Ash, Misty!" Ruby cried out, thankful for the help. Four against one shouldn't be bad!

"Let them go!" Ash shouted. Pixit sat on his shoulder ready to fight whenever ordered. Misty came up beside him, Togetic flying above her shoulder.

Keiji rolled his eyes. "Now, why do people always assume that when the heroes burst in we're automatically going to listen to them? Why talk when now that I know you're there, I can just do this?" Before anyone could react, he moved the gun in Ash and Misty's direction and fired a shot in their direction without any thought.

"NO!" Ruby screeched a hand went to her mouth and she buried her head in Joey's shoulder, unable to look. Joey could only gasp, reality setting in. He was so dead. He had failed.

….

"Ash?" Misty gently pushed him off of her for when he was shot, he flew back and tumbled into her, using her as a cushion. "Ash?" She gently shook him. She was vaguely aware when Pixit and Togetic flew towards Keiji in an angry rage, flying around his head trying to distract him and attack him as best as they could. Misty felt around, looking for the wound. "Ash?" She cried again, her voice desperate. No, she wouldn't do this again! They were dead already! How could this happen? A tear fell down her cheek. "ASH!" She cried, no longer bothering to be gentle. She shook him hard. "WAKE UP!"

"Misty, stop it!" Misty certainly stopped, and she was sure she had stopped breathing too. Ash sat up and rubbed his chest were the bullet had hit. "Man, that stung!" He slowly stood to his feet, aware of the many stares he was getting.

"ASH!" Joey yelled, thrilled that he was up and running. Ruby peeked an eye open, too shocked to say or do much of anything.

"You!" Kejji was furious. How could he possibly still be alive? There wasn't even any blood! He knew he saw the bullet hit him! Ash grinned and gave him a victory sign. He looked down at his wife who was getting to her feet, carefully eyeing her husband. Ash noticed she was suddenly beginning to look older, more her original age of 20's. He figured he was too.

It was time.

"Yea," Ash finally turned to Keiji and grinned. "Me. What about me?"

"You should be dead!" Ash thought a moment.

"Yea, I know." Keiji's eyes widened and he let out an unnatural yell as he unloaded the rest of his bullets into Ash's chest. An odd glow surrounded both Ash and Misty. He bullets only bounced off him. Ash walked closer and closer to Keiji, who for his part was terrified. He was still pointing the gun at Ash and pulling the trigger, but only a clicking noise was heard. Ash finally reached him and leaned into his face. "Dude," He grabbed the gun from his hand. "You can't kill someone who is already dead."

Misty walked up beside her husband and brought out a golden mallet. "You're going to get justice and all that stuff, but this is going to feel SO good!" With that, she swung the mallet as hard as she could at the man's head, successfully putting him out for a long while. "Oh," Misty squealed, "That was GREAT!"

"He-e-e-ey…" Joey squeaked out. Not quite sure what was going on. Ruby on the other hand, still behind Joey, screeched loudly into his ear.

"No WAY! It's ghosts! WE WERE SAVED BY GHOSTS!" Joey, finally caught on and began yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Will you SHUT UP!" Misty yelled, louder than the other two. Once quiet, Ash sighed and continued to explain for his wife.

"Well, we're not 'ghosts' more like angels. We were sent to help you out a little."

"And to torture us…" Misty grumbled under her breath.

"So…" Ruby started. "You ARE the real Ash and Misty?" Both nodded.

"But, we have to go now, just, tell Catrinna that we got bored or something and that I'll battle her sometime." Ash smiled. Their forms started shimmering.

"You're going already?" Ruby asked.

"Sort of." Misty smiled. "We still have one more mission to do, then we go back home."

"Can't we go with you?" Joey pleaded.

"Nope." Ash shook his head. "This is kind of… personal. Anyway, you can't tell anyone about us… well," Ash looked up. "Not that anyone would believe you…"

"Good luck! Hey, take care of Togetic and Pixit for us!"" Misty waved as they finally disappeared. There was a moment of silence as both tried to take it in. Togetic smiled sadly, expecting this, but still ready to live on as long as its life had left. Pixit slowly rested itself on Joey's shoulder, understanding and respecting it's master's request. They stared at the space once occupied by the heroes in silece before Joey finally broke the silence.

"I knew it all the time!" Joey said smugly.

"DID NOT!" Ruby smacked him.

**

* * *

**

**(NOTE)** I decided to just add the final chapter just because it seemed to flo-o-ow right into it. So without breaking the moment – here's the last chapter.

**Second Chances**  
**Part 12;One Final Errand**

Ash let out a heavy sigh as both he and Misty made their way towards the next town.Misty had her eyes closed and would have fallen over were it not for her leaning on Ash. They had walked all night and had almost made it too. Ash could see the sun rising up in the horizon lighting up the darkened world. And, as if it was planned, the sun shed light on the valley bellow just as they had reached the top. A smile spread on Ash's face as he gently shook Misty. "Myst, we're here!"

Misty blinked opened her eyes. It took her a few seconds, but she soon bolted her head up and stared at the beautiful scene. Not many things had changed, which was certainly different from the rest of the towns and cities they had visited. If possible, Ash's smile spread even wider. A sign beside the road to the right answered the question.

'Welcome to Pallet Town! Established 315 years ago, and still remained the same in honor of Master Ketchum.'

* * *

It was just beginning to get light – the usual time for her to get up. She wasn't necessarily a morning person, but she was fairly used to it by now, after all, her grandchildren had to get up early for school, so naturally, she wanted to be up before she was. Her daughter, Salina, was sleeping in. Her newborn had kept her up all night, so, the grandmother had decided to be nice and help out with the other three grandchildren.

She gave a smile to the sleeping pokemon in the corner. It blinked open one eye and it's ears twitched before closing its eyes once again. '_Poor thing_' she thought. '_It has to be really tired_.' She continued to bustle around in the kitchen moving pans and dishes as quietly as possibly. It's not that she didn't love her kids, but it was too early to deal with them. Her black hair was pulled back in a long braid, strands of gray hairs were making themselves known all through the thick inky blackness. Although well into her seventies (maybe eighties, she lost count a while ago), she still had a bright youngness about her. Her green eyes sparkled as she watched the rays come in from the window facing the east.

She noticed a movement in the corner of her eye. She turned and saw the pokemon lift its head up and sniff the hair. It's small, beady eyes blinked in surprise. Slowly, but surely, it got up from its bed and stretched. The woman was shocked. The pokemon hadn't moved that much in three weeks! The poor pokemon was sold old its bones just wouldn't work anymore, but, never the less, here it was, standing up and heading for the door. It kept moving, as though some unknown force was pulling it outside of the safety of the house.

The woman shook out of her daze and ran to the door to open it for the pokemon. She watched with bewilderment as the pokemon continued to the steps of the porch. There it stopped and carefully sniffed the air once more. Its ears twitched, almost to confirm its find before it finally bolted down the steps – quite fast for a pokemon of that age.

The woman raced down the stairs, trailing behind her pokemon. It was a good thing she had dressed before she had left, but she really hadn't expected to have to chase her old pokemon up her street. "Come back!" She cried. "Stop!" How could it run so far and fast! As she continued chasing it, two shadowing figures began to appear. One figure stopped before giving a shout of glee and running up to her. The woman stopped and recoiled in shock. Was he mad? Didn't he know that her loyal pokemon would protect her? It may be old, but it still got some strength left in it!

As he got closer, she could make out a boyish figure. He had a black hat on that flew off as he skidded to a stop right in front of the pokemon, who had also stopped. The other figured wasn't going quite as fast, but she could make out a trace of red hair.

Something was wrong, something was very wrong. Why wasn't her pokemon attacking? What was the weird feeling she was getting, and most of all, why were they HERE?

"D-Dad?"

The boy blinked and looked up from his hug with the pokemon. He smiled up at her and stood up with the pokemon his arms. The girl finally caught up with him and gave the pokemon a quick tickle before turning to the stunned woman. "M-Mom!"

Ash grinned. "Hey, Rose. Thanks for taking care of Pikachu for me."

Misty gave a small smile at her daughter. "Nice to see you again. All grown up!"

"Mom… … … Dad!"

Ash held Pikachu tightly in his arms. He would never leave his buddy again. He looked up from Pikachu and smiled at Rose. "We came to say 'hi."

"We have to go now." Misty said, sadly.

"Thanks for taking care for everyone." As soon as Misty was done speaking, a soft white glow surrounded them. It was easy to see Rose wouldn't have much more time.

"Wait! Where are you taking Pikachu?"  
Ash smiled down at her. "It's Pikachu's time to go. We're taking him with us."

"Don't be sad," misty said as she noticed the tears seeping into Rose's blue green eyes. "You got to see us again, and you have a GREAT family! Enjoy it and know we're watching over you."

Rose's eyes watered, but she held them back. "It – It was nice to see you too! Sabrina, you're great grandchild is starting school this year! Chris and Matt are excellent big brothers!" Rose ran up to her mother and father, the tears finally pouring down her cheeks. "Do you have to go?"

Misty nodded sadly. "We do, but don't worry."

"be happy! You still have a few more years left." Ash winked, "besides, you have my jeans to live a long life." Ash added with a slight grin that Rose knew all too well. She noticed Misty snort, but say nothing else. Enough had been said already. "Good-bye!" She waved until her parents – and Pikachu- disappeared into the clouds. "Bye…" She whispered. Her hand dropped flopped her side as tears pricked at the corner of her eyes, but none came down. Two soft white feathers came floating softly down to the ground. As gently as she could she picked them up and ran her hands through them. One had a slight black tint, while the other was slightly orange. "I never forgot you, and I never will." She gave one last look up to the Heavens, the last of her tears drying in the sun. "And thanks…"

* * *

_"Misty?"_

_Misty looked up from her spot by the window. She had been staring outside for quite some time now, and ash was beginning to worry. He took a few steps to stand behind and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. He rested his chin on her shoulder and asked, "What're you thinking about?"_

_Misty gave him a small smile before turning back to the window. She was silent. Ash though she had gone back into her own world again. He was about to call her again, but Misty began to speak. "Rose is five years old."_

_"So?"_

_"She shouldn't be here Ash." Tears began to form in her crystal eyes. "She should be living a normal life in a normal school, not sitting a crusty old building where we are practically sitting ducks just waiting to be bombed or attacked!" She bit her lips to stop talking. Ash had enough on his mind, why should she both him with her worries as well?_

_"Myst?" Ash took hold of Misty's shoulders with his hands and gently turned her towards him. "Listen to me, Rose is going to make it out just fine! Pikachu will take care of her, and so will we! Not to mention," He smiled warmly at her. "You have me to protect you."_

_Misty looked up at Ash, worry reflected in her eyes." But whose going to protect you?"_

_Ash gave her his infamous grin and knocked his knuckled on his head. "I have a hard head, remember? It'll get me through anything!"_

_In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Misty laughed. She laughed because of their situation. She laughed because of Ash's stupidity, and most of all, she laughed because she needed to. She needed to be apart of her youth. And this was certainly not what she had in mind of when she thought of what she was going to be when she was older, a refugee running from Team Rocket? Certainly not, and her own daughter caught in the middle. What were they to do? But still, Misty laughed. And in her mind, she _would _laugh again._

* * *

"Welcome back!"

"WHA! …. LANCE!"

Misty laughed. After all the time, they were thinking of finally going in search of their old friends and getting together again, but they seemed to have found them before they had even stepped a foot in the golden gate. "Nice to see you! Guess who we saw!"

"Tsk…" A brown haired angel smirked and crossed his arms, his usual snotty look was still there, but Ash and Misty knew he didn't really mean it. "Everyone knew who you saw and what you did." Ash cocked his head.

"They do?"

"Why, yes!" Professor Oak smiled. "News spread of a hero from heaven saving the world… again…" Beside him stood Tracey, who was also smiling. He laughed and continued for Professor Oak.

"And we only know of one hero who has saved the world more than once!" Gary snorted at the comment, but said nothing.

Ash laughed joyfully. All of his friends! He never realized how much he missed them until he was on earth again without them! Misty was beside him, also laughing. Ash felt Pikachu squirm in his arms so he let him jump to the ground. Pikachu 'Pika'd happily and ran to the other Pikachu in the crowd of friends. "Pika pika!"

"Chu?"

"PIKA!" Misty giggled and bent down to greet the new pokemon.

"Hey Sparky!" she patted him on the head and stood up, scanning the crowd for one special person – that was when she heard his voice.

"So, how much trouble did you guys get into without me there?" Misty whirled around and stared at Brock for a few seconds while Ash whooped for joy and gave Brock a big bear hug. "It's great to see you!"

Misty laughed herself and ran to Brock to join in the hug. "I don't know Brock," she smirked, "We didn't get lost nearly as many times."

"HEY!"

Misty and Ash only laughed and hugged their old friend tighter. They were home.

**

* * *

**

_"Mommy?"_

_Misty snapped out of her trend and looked over at her eight-year-old. "Yes, honey? You should be in bed…" She stepped away from the window to kneel down in front of her daughter. Her black hair was a mess, signs of restless sleep. A small hand was curled up into a fist and rubbing her blue-green eyes. "I got a bad feeling, mommy." She dropped the hand that was rubbing her eyes to nervously pull on her sleeping gown. The other clutched her stuffed Eevee as tightly to her as possible. _

_Misty's eyebrows drew together as she drew her daughter into a tight hug. "It's okay, baby, we won't let anything happen to you." _

_Rose buried her head into her mothers chest and spoke, "It's not me, mommy, I'm worried about you and daddy."_

_Misty could feel her heart tighten. What was this feeling? She carefully and slowly turned her head towards the window. Nothing but the black of night, but her daughter had placed a sense of dread in her heart that would not go away. "Come on, do you want to sleep in our bed with Pikachu?" _

_Rose nodded, her face still buried. Misty smiled lightly and stood up with Rose still in her hands. She took a step forward, but wait. She glanced over at the window. She could've sworn something was there – of course, it could always just be her paranoia from her daughter. Her eyes narrowed. You can't be too safe anymore, "Pikachu." She called. Pikachu came scampering to her from the kitchen. "Could you-"_

_BANG! _

_something crashed through the window. Rose screamed as Misty dropped to the ground. Her sensitive nose picked up the sent of something burning. She didn't have to look to know what it was, but she still did. Someone had thrown a torch into their safety house. Voices could be heard outside – none sounded familiar or friendly. Without another thought but to keep her daughter safe, Misty held her close and ran for all she was worth down to the basement. "Pikachu, come with me!" She whispered harshly. She raced down the steps two at a time. _

_The voices were getting closer. _

_Misty reached the bottom and gently put the crying Rose down. She raced over to the back of the basement, to a narrow opening behind the stairs. She pressed a button on the side and what looked like a wall slowly opened to reveal a narrow passage way. "Rose, Pikachu, come here, quickly now!"_

_Rose ran to her mother and Pikachu ran right behind her. "Rose, I want you to go through this tunnel, it will lead you deep into the forest." She paused and kneeled down to her crying daughter. Tears threatened to come down her own face as she looked into her innocent child's face. Would this be the last time she would see her? "When you get out, I want you to run, Rose, just run. Do not look back, do you understand?" _

_Rose could only nod numbly. Misty smiled warmly at her. "Good," She turned to Pikachu. "You go with her, don't let anything happen to her, okay? I'm counting on you!" Pikachu swallowed back tears. Something inside him knew that this was to be his last order, but he would follow it for as long as his little heart kept beating. "Pikachupi…"_

_Rose found her voice. "Aren't you coming?" _

_Misty sadly shook her head. "No, dear" She hesitated and kissed her forehead as she stood up. She gently pushed Rose into the passage. Once Rose was in, she called out, "I love you! So does your father, and I'm going to find him!" With one last look at her disappearing daughter, she closed the door, something telling her that that was the last time. _

**

* * *

**

_Smoke filled the air, pokemon and poke'balls were flying through the air. Pokemon fell while others stood triumphant just to try and beat the next one. There was blood everywhere, blood from pokemon, blood from humans. This wasn't just an ordinary pokemon battle, this was an all out brawl to the death, and fight to the death they would. _

_Ash growled as he watched his faithful Muk fall to the ground. No time to check on it. Bayleef screeched something in her own language. Ash turned his head and saw a man get shoved into a wall by a powerful water gun. A grimy and sooty Misty soon appeared along with her other six pokemon. "Calvary has arrived!"_

_Ash would've been thrilled to see her under different circumstances. "Misty! You have to get out!" Misty smiled grimly. "Sorry Ashy, we started this rebellion together, and we're going to end it together!"_

_A silent agreement went between the two at that moment. A wave of peace replaced all the stress and anxiety. They may die, but they wouldn't die alone. Ash looked at Misty from the corner of his eye. "I assume Pikachu went with Rose?" _

_Misty nodded. "You assume correctly." She dodged a razor leaf. "Ash, we should move to another room so we don't get in the way." Ash nodded his agreement, slightly guilty over leaving his pokemon. He raced behind Misty to the living room where the fire had started. It had consumed most things now. The flames had moved all across the house, nothing was safe from the burning hell. "Ash!" Misty coughed. "We have to get out of here!"_

_Ash cringed and grit his teeth. He wasn't looking at Misty, he was looking at the figure blocking their way out. "You…"_

_The man let out a hearty laugh. "Me! Why, Mr. Ketchum! What a nice greeting!"_

_Ash narrowed his eyes. "Why are you here?"_

_"Why, to be rid of you of course. I have to admit, your putting up more of a fight than I had expected." He walked closer to the married couple. Ash held Misty hand and moved her behind him, using his body as a shield. The man laughed again Ash wondered how he could stand the smoke. "So bold of you! So sweet! I almost hate to ruin the moment, however," He took another step towards them. "Once I'm rid of the main rebels, Kanto and soon Johto will be totally under my control!"_

_"You're mad, Chesser," Ash sneered. "Is that why you overthrew Giovonni?"_

_Chesser let out another haughty laugh. Ash's eyes narrowed. Chesser was toying with them, and he knew it. "Giovonni was too soft, he needed to set his goals higher! World domination!"_

_"So nice of you," Ash scoffed. "So thoughtful."_

_"I know…" Chesser was getting bored now. His hard brown eyes moved to stare at Misty. "Now, now Mrs. Waterflower, aren't you going to say something?"_

_"I don't need to waste words on you," She spat out. _

_Chesser grinned. "Well now, I do like the girls feisty, all my girls are so willing, I like a little fight in them," He licked his lips and stared at Misty hungrily. "Wouldn't you agree?"_

_Misty was disgusted and Ash was furious. "What do you want, scumbag?"_

_Chesser laughed once again. "Jealous, Ketchum? I'd kill you, but I want you to see me kill your wife first."_

_"As if…" Misty glared from behind Ash. Chesser shrugged just as the ceiling caved in, causing a wall of fire between the couple and Chesser. "Great," Misty mumbled. "Be killed by Team rocket or fire. Hmm. Wonderful options."_

_Ash squeezed her hand and looked around. "There has to be a way out…" His eyes darted around. He heard something click. Clicking was never good. He turned to glare at the wall of fire just as something came shooting at him from the side, causing him to pull away form Misty and end up hitting the wall. "ASH!" Misty cried. A small pool of red sticky blood seeped from a bullet wound newly formed in his side. "No…"_

_A rage like no other began to form as she swiftly turned around and saw Chesser jumped through the fire. He shrugged off the singed jacket and let it drop to the floor. In his right hand he held a smoking gun. "Well, that was interesting. Did I hit someone?" His eyes held a delightful glint as he scanned the area. "OH my, Mrs. Ketchum, why so angry?" His cold eyes fell upon the fallen Ash. "Well now! I guess my aim isn't too bad off, even if I was aiming for you."_

_Perhaps it was what he said with is oh-so-cool attitude, maybe it could've been al the stress, if might even have been her sanity had gone with Ash, but right at that moment, something within her snapped. Red, red was all she could see, red anger, red blood, red fire, red carpet, all red. Red… Misty howled a war cry surprising Chesser as she lept on him knocking his gun away. She sat on him and wrapped her thin fingers around his neck, choking him for all she was worth. She was not going to let go. Chesser struggled beneath her, but to no avail. The corners of her lips folded up to form a cold, unfeeling sneer. "Struggle," She growled. "I want you to struggle like the pathetic man –no- monster you are." His brown eyes finally let on an emotion he had never shown her before. Fear. This wasn't the Misty he had teased, harassed and tried to kill. This was a broken Misty. A thought ran through his head as all lights began to fade. Maybe he should've made sure he'd shot her first…_

_Tears streamed down her face. She let out a strangled sob as she felt Chesser struggle less and less under her strong grip. He would pay. He would pay dearly. The flames around her mattered not, nor did the shouts that were nearing. She heard her pokemon call out to her. She heard the rockets call out to their boss, but none of it mattered now. A bitter smile crossed her face. Let them come. Her words repeated in her head_.

"Misty! You have to get out!" Misty smiled grimly. "Sorry Ashy, we started this rebellion together, and we're going to end it together!"

_misty looked into the dying man's face. She wanted to see the wretched man die by her own hands. And she wanted one of the rockets to shoot her after. No more pain, no more fighting. No more death. Scenes of her friends dying in front of her flashed through her head. A voice – Misty finally blinked out of her daze only to feel more pain – this time coming from her stomach. She slowly released her grip and fell back off of Chesser. She looked down. Red blood was coming out of the bullet wound. Did she let go too soon? Misty looked up. Chesser had ceased moving. She realized he had ceased to move long ago, but her rage had kept her going. All rational thought had left misty long ago as a grin spread on her face. Warm arms embraced her from behind. "It's over," She whispered. "It's finally over." She grinned back at the owner of whose arms embraced her so lovingly with._

_Warm brown eyes smiled sadly back at her as he kissed her gently. "Yes, myst, it's over."_

_Misty sighed softly and she fell back into his chest. His blood was matting in her hair, but what did she care? It's not like she'd ever need to brush it again. She vaguely felt his lips kiss her forehead. "I love you." She whispered and closed her eyes her pain was gone, it was finally over, no more wars, no more death, no more pain – all gone._

_Ash held her close and leaned his back against the wall. He watched the fight go on through blurry eyes. The wall of fire had slowly spread and was coming this way. Who cares? He was dying anyway. In fact, it was better that rose didn't find their bodies like this. Misty was already gone. He held her tightly and closed his eyes. He was going to join her soon. He opened his eyes again and tried to focus his vision. How was the fight going? He couldn't' tell anymore. He gave up and closed his eyes just once more. He saw a flash of white, no more red! He saw Gary first. He ran to him and shook Ash's hand. Professor Oak was next he gave Ash a warm approving nod and an encouraging smile. Tracey laughed and ran up to Ash to give him a big hug. Ritchie waved to him as his Pikachu did the same, both grinning and laughing. Drake smiled and nodded approvingly and stepped aside. There was Misty. Her tattered blue jeans and white shirt was replaced with white robes. Her hair was free and flowing in the invisible wind as she ran to him, and she was laughing. She gave him a big hug and kiss. A smile spread on Ash's face and he hugged her back and gave her a deep, loving kiss. _

_No more red – just white._

* * *

So, folks, that's the end of it. I hope you enjoy it. I enjoyed writing it – although chapter 11 I had some issues with, but hey, I was really just anxious to get it done (can you tell? (Insert smiley face). So, as I was saying, I hope you enjoyed it greatly.

**.: End Authoress' note:** I really don't have an excuse for taking this long, and I apologize for doing so, but I have to say this'll probably be the last pokemon fiction I'll write/finish in a long while. The last chapter of course is finished, so I'll add that in a few days once I'm sure all plot holes are filled.I'm not very much into pokemon anymore, hence the lack of motovation.  
If anyone cares, I'm more or less into Naruto and Full Metal Alchemist and such (I recommend those, they're GREAT!). I've begun to write stuff for Naruto if your interested, but other than that, you may not hear from me in a while.  
_Thank-you loyal AAML readers/fans! I appreciate you staying with me and I hope you enjoyed the last chapters! (Specifically AmberMyst, Etherelemental, Neogirl7900, and WeirdDutchGuy and anyone whose stayed with me_)

I leave you with this special note: Smile Jesus loves you (Insert smiley face)

Bye all!


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